We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rickey F. Polidore, Jr. a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rickey F., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
LET ME BREAK THINGS! There was not a TV, VCR, or Cassette Player safe around me as a budding Artist. The mechanism and secondary artistic products these devices provided was remarkable. Understanding their innerworkings and how there was such a human magnetic field created in their presence. That attraction of life forms to objects, prompts my work daily.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Growing up in Houston allowed me to witness Art in action constantly while attempting to find a medium of my own, With so many choices, found objects spoke to me the most. My toys were plastic simple machines, sound and smell. I noticed very early that those around me were perplexed following the presentation that I had so erratically created. Science Fairs served as my stage and telling everyone I wanted to be an engineer was my script, while the whole time I was playing a visual artist at my very own exhibition. Today my focus is wide and homing in on sharing the arts with not only my neighborhood anymore but the world. Art Cars have been my latest endeavor and finding alternative ways to power simple machines is in the que.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
We need them to join us. Throughout time, Art has served as the foundation of communication. The thought of life without creatives is the demise of breath itself. I often struggle with creatin for myself or creating for the audience and the audience continues to win. Not very often visual artists have an opportunity to hear applause and the cheers; good, bad, or indifferent, serve as the threads of communication.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I repeatedly pivot from Artist to Art Educator. Early in my career juggling both was difficult because of the work hours. Over the years I have found that combining the two has provided stability to my journey. The best way to be a great teacher is to be an even better student and creating art is teaching yourself to learn.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://orangeshow.org/
- Instagram: #HERMESILLAC
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theorangeshow/videos/orange-show-behind-the-scenes-meet-artist-rickey-f-polidore-jr/266455652382073/
Image Credits
Images credit to HEREMSILLAC 1. HERMESILLAC in the Art Car Museum 2. Rickey Creating 3. PEG A CORN 4. Shopping at favorite store, Art Assylum 5. Wedding Get Away Car