For the Arts Inspiration section of the Bronze Arts Award: Level 1 Award in the Arts qualification, young people need to research the work of an artist that inspires them. After a mind blowing day of arts activity with Bruce Asbestos that included burning a canvas and burying artwork in a hole, one student from The CE Academy decided to interview Bruce about his work.
What initially got you into art?
I saw Andy Warhol’s work and was shocked that art could be so amazing and interesting. It really made me want to be an artist. I wanted to be an artist from quite an early age, since I was about 14. I just enjoyed art. It seemed like it would be fun to do as a job … and it is!
What is your biggest inspiration?
I’m fully into Japanese and American culture, so draw a lot of inspiration from those but I also like finding weird places to make art, like a catwalk. I am off to Colorado soon to have an exhibition there, so I am excited to see how spending time in America might inform and inspire my work after this visit.
What is the hardest part of being an artist?
Personally, I think that lack of recognition from governments that the creative industries are a huge business in the UK makes being an artist hard. The arts are not valued as they should be. We are told that work in the arts isn’t worth it, and all around us creativity is being eroded from education and public life. This is really frustrating and can make being an artist hard – which it shouldn’t be.
Do you make money from your art. How do you manage to keep financially stable from it?
Yes, I think of it as business and I’m the CEO so I ask, how can I make this crazy project happen? Sometimes it’s selling jumpers, other times it’s applying for grants, other times it’s doing visiting lecturer type work. I love spending time in my studio creating and coming up with new ideas and just playing with ideas and materials – but there is also a huge amount of administration that goes alongside being an artist. I don’t think people realise how much admin there is too! Organising, arranging – just doing all the things that a CEO would need to do to keep a business afloat!
Why is making inflatables art?
Why not? Big beautiful bouncy sculptures.
How do you get new ideas for your projects and how hard is it for you to put your ideas into reality?
It’s usually colliding two things I’ve already done, or finding like the next ‘move’ in this weird game, so today I’m working on a real catwalk but made from AI images – so it’s a collision of two things I’ve been working with for a few months/years – now catwalks and AI. Things just tend to percolate and develop and bounce off of each other and grow.
Do you sell your work? How do you promote it?
Sometimes I sell work. I’ve got my work in two collections. I also make merchandise to accompany my exhibitions … socks, bags, t-shirts. I think I’d like to sell some keyrings next. I usually just use social media and press releases, websites, that sort of thing to promote my work – I’ve over 3 million views on my Tiktok!
How hard is it to juggle between the different types of art you do?
Some things like the catwalks really take an immense amount of time, so I’m trying to do less of those but make them better. It’s all a balance,and really the ideas behind the different types of art bounce off and between each other, evolving and developing. It’s the admin side of it all that is the real juggle – it can take up so much time…
Is art for you more of a hobby or a job?
A job. It’s never really been a hobby, I’ve wanted to be an artist since I was 14. I feel fortunate I can wake up everyday and do something that I love. I get to meet lots of interesting people and do some really fun stuff. It can be very hard work but it’s very good fun.
What’s your favourite thing to do when you aren’t creating art?
I love watching people stream video games, although I also tend to watch them as I’m working too!
I’m going to build a Theme Park in Minecraft this weekend…
Summer and Bruce Asbestos
Read more about our Arts Award activity here.