Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 2. Building within a distinctly steampunk-adjacent aesthetic, what guides your decision-making so the work stays playful rather than overly industrial or dark?
ANSWER 2. I have nothing against art that is dark or industrial. It’s just not how I see things. I’ve always wanted to make people smile. I draw funny pictures and write funny rhymes and songs. I love to see the happy expressions on faces as people enjoy my creations. That’s what it’s all about for me.
Dave Clegg
Illustrator, Assemblage Artist
MEDIUM: found objects
BIO: I’ve had a decades-long career as an illustrator. Past clients include Scholastic, Penguin Books, Houghton Mifflin, Ranger Rick Magazine, Jelly Belly Candy Company, and Sports Illustrated. I began my robot building journey around 2006, inspired by the animated film “Robots”. I have had a solo exhibit and have been in two collective shows.
INSTAGRAM: @CleggoBots:
QUESTION 3. Your bots often feel mid-stride, mid-gesture, or mid-thought. How do you engineer movement and posture into figures built from rigid, mismatched parts?
ANSWER 3. It can be a challenge to bring liveliness to a static sculpture made from metal parts, especially with my tendency towards symmetry. I spend quite a bit of time stacking various objects of different shapes. I will then add the things I can’t stack, such as arms, in Photoshop until the image comes to life. The key is in how the individual shapes play off one another.
QUESTION 1. With so many materials sourced from junkyards and flea markets, how do chance discoveries shape the personality or narrative of a bot-in-progress?
ANSWER 1. Earlier this year, I ran across a part that made a great improvement to a bot I had built in 2019. In fact, that has happened a couple of times this year. Both have now sold. The majority of the time when I’m out shopping for parts, I don’t have a preconceived idea in mind. I just search for items I find interesting. If I look at the object and see potential (and if the price is right) it becomes a part of my collection. It may sit on the shelf for years until enough parts come along to make a cohesive assemblage. It’s very important for the individual items to look as if they were meant to be together from the beginning.
Wish Doctor
Gym Bob
Rapid Roy
All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Dave Clegg.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.
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