rh www.​farmer​bob​s​farm.com

Intro­duc­tion

Robert Hard­grave has inhab­ited the city of Seat­tle, WA for the past 15 years. He adores coffee, deli­cious break­fasts, and lis­ten­ing to metal. He spends his days, adorned with head­phones, draw­ing and paint­ing detailed crea­tures and envi­ron­ments.

In 2003 Robert Hard­grave received a new kidney from a cadav­eric donor which soon after devel­oped Lym­phoma due to med­ica­tion com­pli­ca­tions. Dis­cov­er­ing six months of chemother­apy were nec­es­sary, he decided if he was able to per­se­vere through thisob­sta­cle, Robert would treat him­self to making art full time. In Novem­ber of 2003, he was con­sid­ered in remis­sion, he is now living his life dis­ease awakened.

What would you be doing now if you hadn’t had a life chang­ing expe­ri­ence in 2003?

I’d still be making art, but It wouldn’t be the same. Or maybe it would. I don’t usu­ally ask “what if” questions.

How much money did you make from your last show?

Enough to con­tinue making more work.

Apart from art and illus­tra­tion what other things are you into?

Eating good food and lis­ten­ing to music.

Who are your favourite artists/illustrators alive today?

Sam Weber, Lennard Schu­ur­mans, Zeloot, Jose Parla, Ros­tarr, Chuck Close, Faye Jones in no par­tic­u­lar order, plus of course many more.

Are you mar­ried or do you have a girlfriend… or boyfriend?

I’ve been hap­pily mar­ried for 6 years.

I con­sider you to be a great Artist – has com­mer­cial illus­tra­tion ever been on the cards? Would you like to work for com­pa­nies like Nike, Nokia or Nintendo?

Thank you! I prefer to make the work that I want to make. I will do com­mer­cial jobs if I have free reign to con­trol the work. I don’t do sketches for my work so it makes it dif­fi­cult to share ideas with art direc­tors. Fine art is a much better fit for me.

With a choice of any space or gallery in the world; which city and venues do you con­sider to be hotspots and which ones would you like to show at?

I’m pretty happy with the places I am show­ing now. I would love to do some larger works. Muse­ums eventually?

Are you involved in any col­lab­o­ra­tive projects at the moment and is there anyone you would like to work with?

I am doing a couple col­lab­o­ra­tive projects right now which I am excited about. I can’t really talk about them quite yet, but they will be excit­ing. There is a mural project I am doing with Warren Dyke­man in June. I like work­ing with him since he’s a good friend. I would love to make some cover art for some of the metal bands I enjoy, maybe work with David Lynch or Matthew Barney.

What’s next in the pipeline for Robert Hardgrave?

Two Art­dorks shows and a mural with Warren Dyke­man in June, an instal­la­tion at Bum­ber­shoot in August, an exhibit I’m curat­ing at BLVD Gallery in Sep­tem­ber and then finally my first solo exhibit at BLK/MRKT gallery in Culver City.

Tuna or Crab?

Crab if it’s crab cakes and tuna if it’s sushi.

Buying or selling?

Sell­ing

Wine, beer or a glass of fizzy pop?

Scotch

Pierce Bros­nan or Daniel Craig?

Nei­ther

Colin John­son or Warren Dykeman?

Both

Sean Connery?

Yes Sean Connery.

You can see more of Robert Hardgrave’s work at
www.​farmer​bob​s​farm.com

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Tags: BLVD Gallery, chemotherapy, Chuck Close, Colin Johnson, Culver City, Daniel Craig, David Lynch, Faye Jones, food, Interviews, Jose Parla, Lymphoma, Matthew Barney, metal, Nike, Nintendo, Nokia, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Hardgrave, Sam Weber, Sean Connery, Seattle, WARREN DYKEMAN, Washington, www.farmerbobsfarm.com