Arik Roper is an awesome human on all levels, plus one of my favorite artists. His work is magical, & at first glance draws you into his cosmic universe. Arik has drawn for some of my favorite bands & then some. I feel pretty lucky to count him as a friend & a peer. It’s our honor at CVLT Nation to have chance to bring you a very special interview with him. So after the jump take a journey into Arik Roper’s mind’s eye…
What uppers Arik…how are you chilling?
Very good, the weather is getting nice and I’m hanging out with my new daughter. Things are good.
At what age did realize you had a passion for art? Did your artwork have a dark vibe even as a child?
I started drawing as early as I can remember. My parents were both artists, and my mother was an illustrator, so I learned a lot from her. When I was 3 we moved to Alaska for a while, where I spent most of my time drawing when it was too cold or dark to do anything outside. It’s always been a natural thing for me, as if that’s what I was made to do.
I don’t think there was any specific dark vibe to my art as a child; I always liked monsters, dinosaurs and weird creatures and all that. I always preferred the fantastic instead of the mundane things. I guess you could say I was drawing from my imagination more than from “real life”.
Did your parents nurture your artistic side?
Yeah, I was encouraged by my parents. They turned me on to a lot of art as I was growing up. My mother taught me some skills and I got to make use of her arsenal of drawing tools and markers. My dad was into underground comics, sci fi, movies, etc. so I got started on that angle at an early age through him. I think they would have been disappointed if I’d turned out to be a lawyer or doctor, or something other than an artist.
What artist inspired you most when you were younger?
I’ve gotten a lot of influences from all areas of art. Different ones from different stages. It’s hard to name just one, but If I had to choose one who really spoke to me I guess it would be Vaughn Bode. I discovered him when I was about 13-14, and was immediately attracted to his style, partly because it reminded me of my own style at the time. I spent many years admiring his linework, color and writing; he was one of those cartoonists who could write quality, thought-provoking content. I was fortunate to become friends with his son Mark, who let me in behind the scenes and showed me some of his father’s private work and told me some stories, so I feel extremely lucky to have that connection to one of my heroes. I don’t think my work today is as obviously influenced by Bode as it was in the 90s, but he was a foundational inspiration to me. In the past years, I’ve been more inspired by classical painting and illustration, and of course graphic design and illustration from the 1960s to early 1980s.
Does the inhaling of THC have an effect on the way you create?
Yes, for me it’s a tool. It serves a very useful purpose when related to creating my art. It gives me two important things: Patience and Perspective. Patience is useful because sometimes when Im working I tend to move quickly to reach a finished state faster, but the THC brings me back to a meditative pace where I can enjoy the more repetitive detail work of a piece of art. As soon as it affects me, I have the patience to slow down and spend more time on something – this could also be called “focus” I guess. In the same way it gives me the other attribute of Perspective – it allows me to see the work from new points of view. This is really useful if I’ve been staring at some piece of work for too long. I can see it with a new mindset thanks to the plant. Definitely a useful tool for my process.
How did you become the one of the go-to artists in doom metal world?
I don’t know if I’d agree I’m the “go-to artist”, I think there are some other dudes who personify doom more than I do, but whatever notoriety I have in that field of heavy music is probably from doing some work for classic bands like Sleep and some other seminal metal bands. I like doing that stuff, but I wouldn’t want to be labeled as only that. I’m into different things, a wide range of styles and subjects. I’m not what I’d call a “dark” person. I like to keep the balance of dark and light in my work, but I’m also an optimistic person.
Can you describe your personal & artistic relationship with bands like High on Fire and Buzzov-en?
Buzzov-en was the first band I really hooked up with in terms of doing consistent art. I met them in 1992 or so. I was into that style of sludge metal, so after a show one night I started to talking to Kirk, and we got along well. I told him I could do a flyer or something for the band. They liked the flyer and from there I started doing shirt designs and later album covers for them. I also met Sleep through them. Fast forward several years to when Tee Pee put out High on Fire’s The Art of Self Defense on vinyl, I did some art for it and Matt Pike and I got back in touch. Since then we just kept working together. He or Des usually calls when they need some new art. I honestly like their music a lot too, so that helps.
How does the fantasy world impact your artwork?
Let me start by saying that I’ve always been interested in consciousness, and what makes up what we call “reality”. I’ve done a lot of thinking and reading about it, and come up with some ideas on the subject. I think the “fantasy” world, or I’ll call it the “imagination”, is something that a person can choose to turn into a reality. It may be a personal reality at first, but if you depict it with art, music or whatever, you can let others in on it, and it starts to become a reality even if it’s a mental reality only. There are many realities, we create them all the time, but the artist has an opportunity to show it to others. So in that way, I think of a lot of my art as existing in a world or universe that a person visits when they view it. Hopefully it will take them there and give them a glimpse of that world. I’m an unapologetic fantasy artist, and an escapist artist. I try to help people escape from the normal, shared world that we all call “reality”. I take them for an imaginary ride.
You live in a city that has almost no natural surroundings, but your artwork has an aspect of nature to it. Does escaping to nature play a part in how you create, or do you imagine it from the city?
The natural world is very inspirational to me. I live in a mostly concrete city, but I always come up with this overgrown natural world for my art. I guess that unbounded natural imagery represents some kind of ideal to me, like nature triumphing over the man-made world. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in the woods, but until I moved to New York I lived in some pretty remote wooded areas growing up. I wonder if my art would change if I lived in the wilderness now. I don’t think that would would lessen my affinity for nature, it would probably only cause me to draw more types of trees and roots and animals since I’d be seeing it all the time. Nature is ultimate teacher. You can learn the way life works from observing the natural rhythms of the world, the way water flows, the way ice crystals grow, the way animals behave, natural cycles of the seasons- that’s the Tao, and it’s all there for us to observe. It’s where we come from and it’s where we return.
What inspired you to create your book Mushroom Magick?
Mushroom Magick was an idea that I and an editor at Abrams books came up with. She wanted to propose a book on hallucinogenic mushrooms to Abrams, and she was pretty sure she could convince them to publish it. She approached me with the idea and of course I was into it. I’d been wanting to do a book like that for years but I didn’t expect a major publisher to go for it. I came up with the basic concept and material and how it would be presented then we went through with the process and it became a reality. It’s a showcase of mushrooms, an homage to them. They’re powerful and mystifying things, and I wanted to convey some of that without making the book too far out; well actually, Abrams didn’t want it to be too far out – I did! But I like the way it turned out as an accessible art book that almost looks likes a children’s book, which is cool because everybody should know that there are mushrooms out there in the world that have this powerful chemical interaction with the mind.
What are three of your favorite heavy records & why?
Tough question. Just to keep it simple, I’ll narrow this down to modern (meaning last 20 years) of heavy music. There are too many old bands that I’d list as my all-time favorites, but for the modern era I can list 3 that have been outstanding favorites of mine. These are off the top of my head, I’d probably list others if I thought about it longer.
Sleep – Dopesmoker: I think this album is one of the most original pieces of music ever recorded. Its’ vision and vibe are truly epic. It tops the genre of the slow and heavy post-Sabbath sound. Nothing has surpassed it.
Melvins – Ozma: I could choose other Melvins albums just as easily as this one, but this was my first I think. The Melvins constructed the ultimate modern heavy sound, and remained outside of any stereotypical image.
Darkthrone – Total Death: I like Darkthrone’s attitude of DIY, back-to-basics rawness, and their commanding vibe comes through strong in their work. Total Death has that Celtic Frost thrash feel, I like that. They do a great job of creating an atmosphere – when you hear them, you know you’re in their world.
Super Rad Human Arik Roper.
Any last words?
Peace, Life and Progress!
CVLT Nation would like to thank Arik Roper for his epic interview & his support!
