Meet Richard Ingersoll | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Richard Ingersoll and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Richard, is there something you believe many others might not?
The first thing that comes to mind is growing up and hearing things like “oh thats cool you make art but make sure you have a plan B in place.” What they are really saying is “your art is a cute plan B, but make sure you have a plan A” haha. In theory, this makes complete sense but I’ve come to understand that if you really want to sustain yourself in any kind of effective way doing something you love, you give it your 100% effort. Of course there are exceptions to this I know not everyone is in the position to just trust fall into their passions and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, but I don’t know any working artist who doesn’t work double full time hours. Anyone ever see into the spider verse? “Thats all it is, Miles, a leap of faith.”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Ive always taken a super intuitive, tea leaf gazing approach to creating. Generally speaking, I have no idea what I’m going to do when I start a piece of work I just know or am aware of a vibe or a feeling I have and I try to reflect that by the colors I’m using, subjects I’m including, how I’m physically applying the paint to the surface, etc. Essentially, I make a mess and then clean it up. I’m throwing random puzzles pieces across the floor like a child and then putting them together like an adult. This is important because I think If I can find a balance between the child and the adult, between clutching at the reins and letting the horse run wild, it opens a window into my subconscious and ideas start to form that I could have never thought of in a well planned approach. As artists, sometimes we are our worst enemy and biggest obstacle to overcome. We have to learn how to get out of our own way and let our work be bigger than we are. You know, I’m a dad of a couple kids now and I feel like thats what I’m describing haha you don’t want to control it too much, its a living thing let it become what it wants to become so you don’t stomp the soul out of it. As far as how I got where I am professionally, no it has not been easy haha and continues to be a challenge but nothing worth doing is easy! It takes friction to make heat, baby. Thats apart of whats satisfying about it. Before kids, it wasn’t abnormal for me to start painting at 10am and finish in the wee hours of the morning. I believe in that 10,000 hours thing I think it was Malcolm Gladwell who talked about that? It takes 10,000 hours to approach true mastery of something. Of course I didn’t just log these hours, I had to be hard on myself and be honest when something wasn’t good, take criticism as love and not recoil offended, and as if all that inner training wasn’t enough, I had to learn to be business minded as well which doesn’t come naturally to many artists. Most of us work a side job like a restaurant or something. Business is done for you in those positions, the customers come, the money gets made, the business is already there and you are just a cog helping it function. So I had to start thinking, ok what percentage of what I make should go into advertising? What proactive things can I do? Reach out to galleries, go to shows, network with other artists, have a place online where someone interested in me can go to learn more. One thing really does lead to another if you persist. I’m blabbing a lot in this answer, but the last thing ill add and the most recent lesson I’ve learned through this last year of the pandemic is to be aware how you are defining yourself to yourself professionally. I used to be very rigid with my image of myself as a gallery artist and while I love the gallery game, the atmosphere, the networking, and almost everything about it, its not where I’ve found most of my success. During this last year I was forced to be honest with myself about that especially with so many galleries closing or becoming limited in one way or another. What I decided to do was redefine what kind of artist I thought was and what I allowed myself to do. Which didn’t mean cut out galleries, I just widened my professional field of vision and started taking jobs doing album covers for music I liked, worked on some video game concept work, did a book cover, merchandise design for bands, etc. and found that I could still express myself and have artistic freedoms within these other professional contexts. What I enjoy about my day to day work didn’t change and for some reason I thought if I stepped outside the gallery world it would change into something I didn’t like or that doing commercial client work wouldn’t be very “Gallery Gangster” of me. Thats just not the case. Not to mention I have made lasting business connections and genuine friends through making this decision which has in turn led to more opportunities that I am excited about and thankful for. To reiterate the end of the first paragraph, get out of your own way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The first thing that comes to mind is jumping off the little waterfall into the river up a few miles west of Morrison, although I think they have blocked that off now haha. But yeah I mean its Colorado so maybe we wake and bake and go to Castlewood Canyon or somewhere up by Morrison or Evergreen and get some good naturing done and then get Jalapeño Bacon Benedicts and bloody’s at Breakfast on Broadway. I seriously cannot recommend these Benedict’s enough. There’s nothing like em. Truly something to behold. Its a classic little place with pictures of 1950’s (?) Broadway on the wall so like you see the Gothic Theater in all its infantile glory with a cable car track in front of it. All the employees there rule. It is a diamond in the rough of Englewood’s stretch of South Broadway, it has my heart, I love it. Then we go over to Sputnik up on the Denver side of South Broadway and say whats up to those wonderful people and get a drink and maybe some habanero jam and fries. Then its nap time because: day drinking + I’m 30 years old. Next, we hit Jalan facial spa to get pampered like the Yung Gods we are. For the night life 22nd and Larimer is where I’ve kind of made my home. I used to help run “Mile high improv” where a bunch of musicians would get together and we’d make music and have a great time at The Armory, free weekday pool at Zanzibar, comedy at El Charrito, free drink hour at the retro room, and then at the end of the block on the west side is Marquis Pizza which is the best single slice pizza in Denver in my opinion. My drunken face could easily and shamelessly inhale 3 huge slices of that and still want more. Phenomenal. But yeah everything on 22nd right there is great. I used to work at Biker Jim’s gourmet dogs right there too which is some noteworthy food as well. Some of these things are different or not around now because of the pandemic, but yeah we’d be doing a lot of drinking, eating, and looking at the beauty of Colorado. Rinse and repeat for the week.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost I have to give credit to my parents. They have been endlessly supportive and have always wanted to see me succeed in what I love since I was a kid. I would be nowhere without their support. Boni and Randy, ya done well and I love ya. But I cant talk about support, mentorship, and encouragement without mentioning my buddy and fellow Colorado Artist, Cody Kuehl. Cody was there from the very beginning and always seemed to be doing extra to help as he’s done for many artists. He is the gorgeous and radiant mother of my gallery life as he gave me a place to show work during some life events that should have smothered any trace of artistic pursuit out of me. He gave me experience in the art convention life and was there during some of my first monumental sales. So shoutout to Cody Kuehl aka Mother Theresa. Also shoutout to Chet Zar who taught me how to actually paint, Edwin Burrows and Sandy Guinn who let me do whatever I wanted in art classes, Laurence Dipaolo, and Jack David Eller. All teachers at the Community College of Denver (except Chet who teaches at the Community College of the Underworld 😈) who actually truly cared about students, endless thanks to these people.

Website: RichardIngersoll.bigcartel.com

Instagram: @grave.daisy

Facebook: Facebook.com/Richard.ingersoll.3 or just search my name

Image Credits
Personal image (me w sword) edited by Josh Clark