Artist Spotlight: Harrison Roberts
– Where are you from?
• Los Angeles, CA
“Land of the free, chips and salsa ”
– Is anyone else in your family creative?
• My parents created me, so nice one there, my fathers a musician and my mothers a visual artist and homeopathic healer, both huge influences on my freedom of creativity and perception of this world. My younger twin siblings are also amazing musicians as well as visual artists in they’re own right.
– Very cool. Did you skateboard at all growing up?
• From the early 90’s to about Five years ago, I lived skateboarding, I grew up skating with my ol pal, Lance Mountain Jr. and was fortunate enough to be exposed to the heart of genuine skateboard culture at a very young age, I still push some wood from time to time and keep up with the evolution of a few rippers. S.A.C. 4 LIFE
– Does skateboarding play a role at all in your creative influences?
• Richie Jackson
– Yes. Love that dude. How old are you?
• Ol Dirty 30 • VIRGO
– At what age did you realize you wanted to be an artist?
• Many are called, but few are chosen, I don’t think I ever realized, that I wanted to be anything, creating things has always been driven by pure intuition.
– Right on. Who are some of your influences?
• I could do an entire interview of inspirational figures, here are a few, in alphabetical order, as to not play favorites and potentially hurt anyone’s feelings : Iris Apfel, Kevin Ayers, Jean Michel Basquiat, Les Blank, Marc Bolan, Chester Burnett, George Carlin, Nudie Cohn, Salvador Dali, Jim Franklin, James F. Goldstein, Peter James “G” Grant, Lee Hazlewood, Chet Helms, Jimi Hendrix, Elmore James, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ray Johnson, Peter Max, Randy Newman, Andrew Loog Oldham, Gram Parsons, Paul Rand, Sixto Rodriguez, Leon Russel, John Trudell, Doug Sahm, Don Van Vilet, Link Wray, Townes Van Zandt.
– What is it like for you being an artist in Los Angeles?
• Casually exhausting
-Haha i feel that. Do you find it difficult to stand out from the rest?
• Not at all
– Nice. Do you find people to be more embracing of what you do as an artist?
• In Los Angeles, people will embrace just about anything emitting from a screen, embracing something real, gets me off, they are out there, and they know who they are.
– Who have you met along your journey that’s helped shape your career?
• Gino Perez, Randy Chew, Gabriel and Abijah Martinez, so many of the OG Skate All Cities heads helped bring me up. My love for the arts and need for spontaneous inspiration, has always really been the fire under my ass.
– Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• Blue Jeans and Moonbeams
– What do you have planned for 2016?
• Im currently working on album artwork, for a 7” re-issue of two tracks my Dad “Keith Michael Roberts” cut in 1973, featuring Billy Strange and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. The songs are early 70’s LA country gems, just waiting to be unveiled. I’m also working on new sculptures and paintings for an upcoming show, hopefully sometime this spring.
– Anything else you’d like to add?
• You can see more of my work on my website www.harrisonproberts.com and my Instagram @harrisongoldengoodness