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Graphic Nature Artist Rex Ray wins big with rock, paper, scissors. |
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posted on November 01, 2006 |
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Local artist Rex Ray recently heard a rumor that Heath Ledger took a shine to his collages and bought a few from the Jonathan Adler store in L.A. The 50-year-old Ray, who moved to SF from Colorado Springs in 1980, is unimpressed by such Hollywood accolades. “I never believe these things when I hear them,” says the San Francisco Art Institute alum. He does, however, count Tracy Chapman, Laurel Canyon director Lisa Cholodenko and David Bowie among his admirers. Next year, Chronicle Books will release a coffee-table retrospective on Ray’s prolific career, covering everything from his album covers and concert posters (currently on view at SFMOMA) to his rug designs to his collage series. 7x7 tracked down the former City Lights bookstore clerk—who can be spotted every afternoon sipping a medium latte at Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia—for the 411 on his (very lucrative) life less ordinary. When did you adopt your pseudonym? In the mid-’70s, when there was this really amazing movement of mail artists—people would just make art and mail it to each other. Pretty much everyone worked under a pseudonym, so I took on Rex Ray. How did you start designing rock posters? My first trip to San Francisco was just after I graduated from high school in Colorado in 1974. At the time, Bill Graham had a little store down on Fisherman’s Wharf where they had all of the rock posters. I thought, One day, I want to do that. When I finally moved here after college, I blindly lobbied Bill Graham Presents. When I heard concerts were coming, I would just do a rough little poster and take it in to them. They booted me out the door many times. Do you still work with Bill Graham Presents? Not much anymore. For many years I worked with a wonderful art director there named Arlene. She was brutally laid off about a year ago. I really let them know what I thought about that. There’s too much injustice in the world, and you’ve just got to speak up. Do you have to be a fan of the music to do a good poster? I have done posters for bands even though I’ve never heard a note of their music. I did a really beautiful poster for Linkin Park last year, and I’ve never heard any of their music. But apparently everybody loves the poster. Are you friends with David Bowie? Being a rock god must be really time-consuming, so I’m very reluctant to monopolize his time. When I met him, I was just a geeky little fan. I wanted him to sign the posters I did for his 1995 show with Nine Inch Nails at the Shoreline and for his three nights at the Warfield in 1997. What do you like about assemblage art? It seems very mindless—not even mindless, just something that’s very fluid for me. I’m not entirely conscious of what I’m creating, and the result always surprises me. What does your house look like? I live in an old building that has been converted into lofts. It’s a nice mix of old modernist furniture: Florence Knoll credenzas, a William Platner dining-room set, an iconic Noguchi glass coffee table and B&B Italia sofas. I also have several Warhol prints and Cindy Sherman photographs. People are totally creeped out by her stuff, but I love it. How would your loved ones describe you? Overly motivated toward my career. You know those books that teach you how to tap into your creativity? I need the book that tells me how to turn it off. It’s a blessed curse. How did you start at City Lights? My first experience working there was at a book signing for Iggy Pop. They were expecting mobs, so they hired me to work the door. I had to be a formidable personality at the front door, which was entirely acting on my part. You must have some great stories from there. The best ones aren’t even mine. Once Morrissey came in looking for the Sylvia Plath books, and the clerk said, “Aren’t you ever going to lighten up?” Yoko Ono came in once and asked for books on the Beatles. The clerk came back with one book about John Lennon, and Yoko replied, “John Lennon was only one of the Beatles.” Then there was the time that Roseanne Barr came in shortly after she published her autobiography asking for her book. City Lights would never carry something like that. I told her that we sold out of them. Any book recommendations? You’re asking me as I stare at a wall of books... Back away from the wall... This is so hard! OK. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, because it seems so benign, but it’s powerful if you can read between the lines; Douglas Coupland’s Life After God; and for something really crazy, The Communist Manifesto. Do you have any dirty little secrets? You can mention that I just bought the new Justin Timberlake CD, but don’t bring up my blog page...
Local artist Rex Ray recently heard a rumor that Heath Ledger took a shine to his collages and bought a few from the Jonathan Adler store in L.A. The 50-year-old Ray, who moved to SF from Colorado Springs in 1980, is unimpressed by such Hollywood accolades. “I never believe these things when I hear them,” says the San Francisco Art Institute alum. He does, however, count Tracy Chapman, Laurel Canyon director Lisa Cholodenko and David Bowie among his admirers. Next year, Chronicle Books will release a coffee-table retrospective on Ray’s prolific career, covering everything from his album covers and concert posters (currently on view at SFMOMA) to his rug designs to his collage series. 7x7 tracked down the former City Lights bookstore clerk—who can be spotted every afternoon sipping a medium latte at Ritual Coffee Roasters on Valencia—for the 411 on his (very lucrative) life less ordinary. |
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