We recently connected with Peter Clark and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Peter, thanks for joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I sold my first piece of art in 2009 when I was a freshman at the Savannah College of Art and Design. It was a digitally collaged hummingbird made from subwoofers and paint splatters, inspired by the name of an electronic music artist known as Bassnectar. I shared it with him via myspace and his team asked if they could purchase it for the upcoming Timestretch album cover. That moment really stood out to me because it was the first affirmation that my personal projects could result in some form of income. Fast forward to 2023 and I’m primarily making my living by creating tour visuals for music artists.

Peter, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My journey started at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where I first studied Graphic design and later fell in love with their Motion Media department. That school had so many different facilities that allowed me to experiment with mixing tactile process with digital media. My love for multi-media experimentation landed me in San Francisco to work with Autofuss studio, which was known for using robotics to mix physical and digital techniques. We did everything from vacuum forming typography for a title sequence to designing a laser show that we filmed with robotic arms. The studio eventually shut down, but I continued working with my mentor, GMUNK, which was the director that originally connected me with Autofuss.

That was the beginning of my work as a freelance artist, often contracting with visual effects studios to do everything from typography animations to in-camera practical effects work. GMUNK and I also worked together to do several light installations. One of my favorites was ISO, where I was tasked with designing an isometric metal sculpture and then animating several minutes of content that would be projected onto the sculpture from multiple angles. Projects like ISO are my favorites because I get to bring digital artwork into physical space while also experiencing new cultures.

Lately I’ve been working with a lot of musicians to develop their tour visuals. Most recently I had the honor of working on Labrinth’s Coachella tour. I generated many of them using tactile process like water cymatics and then distorting them with analog glitch gear. Tour visuals are often the most liberating projects because they give me the most room to play and see what visuals best embody the feeling of the artist’s music. Seeing my work on the big screens after watching it on a laptop for months is also quite satisfying.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that I get to observe the world with so many strange tools and then share my observations with the people around me. Recently I did a project with Cody Samson for Digital Graffiti Festival where we projected sand and water cymatics, which are essentially moving patterns shaped by sound waves. The patterns were then stylized by AI to look like land formations eroding over time. It was incredibly fulfilling to talk with the audience as they observed the piece because everyone was so surprised that the cymatics were real as opposed to computer generated. I love to see others reflect on a piece of art and then reevaluate the world around them.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

A professor at SCAD introduced me to a book that completely reshaped how I think about creativity. It’s titled, The Medium is the Message and is written by the media theorist Marshall McLuhan. His book impacted me deeply because it speaks about how the medium we use shapes the message we are communicating. I think this is incredibly relevant because many artists are often identified by the medium they use. The book inspired me to treat techniques as conceptual elements, like on a project for Fender Music where I used magnets to move metallic liquids in order to represent how a guitar FX pedal manipulates sound signals. I also love to try new mediums regularly, which feels like trying on a new identity for every project.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.callmeclark.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/enternull/
• Twitter: twitter.com/enternull