The Animal Spirit of
Robert Rivers
by Rex R . Thomas
Robert Rivers and his wife , Peggy , have a place in Maitland that looks pretty suburban . The neighborhood is settled down , and Rivers ’ home is busy being lived in . A seasonal fl ag marks the front door , completing their holiday decorations . No permit boxes decorate front yards , no dumpsters are sucking off the sturdy mid-century homes , and the streets seem blissfully out of the path of the tornado of McMansions that has become Central Florida ’ s unfortunate zeitgeist of late . In this peaceful setting , I interviewed Rivers in his home and his studio , perched over the garage with late-afternoon winter light fi ltering in through the windows .
left : Mercy on Me , handbound book ( two views ) below : Evil Man , ceramic
The interview was continued digitally and on the phone . It culminated in a dinner with Robert and Peggy Rivers and their colleagues and spouses the Enzian ’ s Eden Bar . The evening spun into a spontaneous , sometimes raucous , freewheeling debate about art and teaching , occasionally involving the server — one of Rivers ’ students — and Ruby , their dog .
Robert Rivers is a Professor of Art with the University of Central Florida ’ s School of Visual Arts and Design . He teaches fi gure drawing , advanced drawing , and etching . He has also taught at Edinburgh College of Art as Visiting Professor for part of his career . With exhibitions in Europe and America , critics have reviewed his work numerous times , giving him a unique position in our arts community . He ’ s talked about .
Rivers uses printmaking and drawing , as well as ceramic , to express his ideas about the darker spirits that lurk in all of us , coming out in both human and animal fi gures . He has developed a method that offers the viewer an immediate , almost naked contemplation of the meaning of being a human without the protective cloak of civilization . His work is so confrontational to the viewer that writer Henry Walton says of it , “ evasion is not an option .”
It was not an option for me , either . The interview started essentially when I was still getting out of the car , grabbing a notebook off the front seat . Rivers stood outside , waving his arms , fl agging me down , and by the time I was inside the house with a cold beverage , we were well into the travel books that he has published with Flying Horse Press .
The books are oversized , some as big as a table , full of original drawings , etchings , and paintings on fat , archival paper with live , untrimmed edges . The books ’ somber maroon covers belie an energy vibrating off the pages , like undiscovered medieval manuscripts one wishes to pore over carefully , missing not a mark or a line . They also weigh a ton .
Orlando Arts & Culture , v . 2.2
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