We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful James Rauff. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with James below.

Hi James, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I think I’m right where I need to be at my creative stage in life. I’ve had a few creative projects before Recirculation Art. Previously, I was doing stain-glass/old window frame art in San Diego. Previous to that I focused a lot more on just poetry and in college I was on the editorial staff of a poetry magazine. So I think what I do now is a great combination of all my past creative endeavors. Utilizing some mechanical aspects, some poetry, some photography, and a little bit of glasswork. As in many things you get older your style changes your creative voice changes and that’s reflected in what you create. I can for sure look at older short stories and poems I wrote and know where I was in life from them and see how I’ve grown and changed from that. So sooner or later are all good times to create they will just more strongly portray who you were when you created it.

James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a writer at the core of what I do. I think behind a lot of my art is a story. I like to give all my little camera robots names and things about them that make them unique. and creating them was a way for me to tell stories of what they have seen and places they had been. I do enjoy urban exploring and going to abandoned places as a reminder that time doesn’t stop for anyone or anything. I was always intrigued by history which is why I studied it at University and I try to weave that into a lot of what I create. I’ve always been creative and have found various ways to spread that out there. I am like most other creators in this industry just trying to turn it into a career. But that’s the nature of it, what you create is distinctly you, so is it really meant for wide audiences? Finding your creative voice and figuring out your target market are keys to turning that corner but it’s a long turn and a huge corner. I think my brand is very unique which makes it stand out. The medium in which I use (old digital cameras) is one that many have not utilized. I hear it all the time,” This is so unique. I’ve never seen anything like this.” I also really try to layer my art. The figures, the photography, the juxtaposition of the abandoned landscape, the poetry and writing that goes with that theme. I’ll do stencils of the robots on old wood and glass. I try to give it a lot of layers and some people appreciate that.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think you have to be amazingly resilient in the art world. At the end of the day, it’s sales. With sales, you have to get used to being told no a lot more than yes and have very thick skin. It certainly also comes with a lot of vulnerability. You are putting yourself and your emotions out there for judgment and criticism and that takes a strong resilient person. I’ve had a ton of people shrug off my art, and local places not carry my book or get rejected from art spaces. Although my work is a reflection of me I don’t take that personally. It’s subjective and not all things belong in all places.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

HAAA!!!! It’s been a little bit since I have been asked about NFTs. A year or so ago Crypto and NFT people were swarming. People were buying digital gorillas (not the band) for days! Not to knock anyone who deals in that but it always seemed very unstable to me. NFT’s gave off a very stock market-esk feeling I guess, not that that is dissimilar to physical art that people collect and varies in value. But I never considered it but was approached by many who asked. It would just be a little strange for my art to go from turning a piece of electronics into something physical and then turning that back into something digital.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.recirculationart.com
• Instagram: Recirculationart

Image Credits
Credit to my loving wife for allowing pursue my creative endeavors.