Color and Inspiration- A Quick Chat With Pop Artist Michael Albert

What do you get when you take one gi-normous pile of recyclable cardboard boxes,  some choice snippets of Americana pop culture and a whole lotta creative genius?

Why the art of Michael Albert of course.

The Sermon on the Mount, 1999 ( the artist’s first large scale collage- created over the course of 10 months featuring hundreds of famous brand name characters )

Yesterday afternoon I had the good fortune to take part in a collage workshop for kids and adults hosted by non other than Michael Albert himself…( yes, I do occasionally step away from my computer and spend quality time with my children )…. it was an afternoon of cutting, pasting and at times even some negotiating- since the artist’s first instruction to everyone was to cut out all the letters in their name and I can’t begin to tell you how elusive finding the letter ‘u’ can be on a cereal box.

Since I had recently discovered Michael’s book An Artist’s America… a colorful retrospective of his amazing career thus far… I was thrilled at the prospect of being able to ask him a few questions about his work and inspirations. As my luck had it he was kind enough to oblige via an email interview later that day….

Is color something you think about when you are creating each piece or does it just organically come together?

Sometimes I plan artworks to be predominantly one color or the other–I am doing a series inspired by Matisse’s The Red Studio(1910), where I have done several collages all in one color or another. I have done a number of red collages that I call my “Red Studio” and  “The Yellow Studio, 2009″ was a recent one I created  featuring a bunch of unrelated yellow images on a black background. But otherwise I just strive for a harmony between the colors. Sometimes by their sharp contrast to each other creates a very busy harmony–like a Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin song, or on Charlie Parker, John Coltrane type leads… it’s got a lot of notes seemingly all over the place, but somehow it can be sweet & soothing….it can almost be like a collage pointillism or abstract expressionism in a way.

Golden Crisp (2002) and Cap’n Crunch Berries (1998) from Albert’s ‘Cerealism’ series

One thing that popped out to me as I was looking at your work today was how sometimes I think we forget how amazingly bright the colors are that are used in product packaging.  I went to the grocery store after I met you today and I began to notice every color around me.  When you  grocery shop do you find yourself distracted by new ideas or do you find yourself buying things just to have the labels?

I try not to buy things for the package as my mission is to save things from the landfill, not create more garbage for the sake of art. But I have bought a box or ten over the years to get a certain character or even to try something new knowing I will also then add the package to my arsenal of collage materials. Recently I bought a box of Hamburger Helper just for the hand character for a collage in my Jesus quotes series, The Kingdom of God is at hand! Actually for my work, “Judgement Day, 2000″ I purchased more products that for another collage as I was trying to collect every possible character from consumer brands that I could find since “nobody escapes judgment” !  That particular work took over 1 year to complete mainly as I was searching for all the characters.

I see that words and messages play an important part in your art,  what inspires you to start a new piece of work?

Lately a desire to connect with as many people as possible & therefore I have been seeking subjects of universal interest & appeal. Famous products (Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Arm & hammer Baking Soda), texts (The Gettysburg Address, The 23rd Psalm of David, etc), lyrics, scenes in history (The Sermon on the Mount, The Signing of the Declaration of Independence), shapes & symbols (Skull, Heart), etc Hiding messages in my works was inspired in part by Hirschfeld who has his daughter’s name Nina in his drawings & the way Seurat would ‘hide’ his name in the border of his pointilistic paintings. Also other things can inspire me that are going on like ‘Yes We Can’, and “Hope” lately. And I make a lot of gifts for friends & colleagues for all sorts of reasons–weddings, new home (Home Sweet Home), births, deaths, for their companies, some corporate work which often dictates the subject matter…

Etude (Study in candy logos A to Z), created in honor of his one man show at Dylan’s Candy Bar NYC

I love the connection between food labels and where your work has been exhibited- D’Agostino’s, Dylan’s Candy Bar, Krispy Kremes….it  must be fun for you bring your art to people that may not take the  time to visit a traditional gallery.  I know in New York everyone  has an opinion…do people love to give you ideas for new pieces.

Yes, talking to people & listening to & seeing what’s going on around me is a constant source of inspiration. The Number Pi poster I have was created after talking to a mathematics graduate student on the street where I was giving out free posters near Washington Square Park.  I generally like to come up with my own ideas! There doesn’t seem to any shortage of them (ideas) yet.

At your workshop today it was obvious that kids ( as well as adults ) are fascinated by your collages. It was fun to watch them pointing out characters and words to each other… I think they were so fascinated by the fact that you could take a pile of boxes and turn them into art.  Since our next generation is so aware of recycling  and re using- do you find they are just as interested in the material  you use as they are in the end results of your work?

The materials, being a universal thing gives them a familiarity to start with. And it is easy & fun to work with. I like to think that they appreciate the art as well to the degree they can at their age. After trying to do it themselves they can really start to see the amount of work that goes into my creations. Once I asked my wife to create a collage for me for an occasion. After doing it she declared that that I must be insane to do this all the time! Many disagree and find it to be an incredibly fun & relaxing project with limitless creative opportunities (and very little cost involved except time and thinking).

Reese’s (2002, Giclee on canvas) – from the C’andy Warhol series

Thank you so much Michael!

To read more about the history of his career and take a look at even more of his amazing art visit Micheal on his website Michaelalbert.com.

His book An Artist America is available for $17.95 through Amazon… signed copies available through his website.

And in case your wondering how we did at the workshop… well my kids loved making their own mini masterpieces ( my cabinets have now been cleared of all packaging as they continue their quest to make more)… I ended up making a mock up box of a faux-cereal called ‘Frosted X’ ( sort of in the vein of those ‘Bazooka Joe’ stickers of my childhood)… which at the time I felt was maybe a little too ‘dark’ to share with the others around me but which I can shamelessly brag thoroughly cracked up my nine year old son once it was revealed later at home.