It ’ s not the very last , but close to it . Here , I wanted to create a classical Greek figure of a horse , and the body is proportioned as an iconic figure . But I often juxtapose a contradictory figure into work , and in this corner , this little ball is a naughty monkey ’ s head , flayed so its musculature and skeletal form is laid bare . It ’ s chained . You see both sides of an animal ’ s nature that way , the freedom and enslavement , good and bad , both inside and outside .
When did you stop etching and turn to drawing ? When a young pony I was training fell on my arm , and bone splinters damaged my ulnar nerve . Holding an engraving point became impossible ; I couldn ’ t control it . So , drawing [ shrugs ]. ( If he felt sorry about the event , he didn ’ t indicate it . Instead , he pressed on as if a new adventure needed explaining .) It was , in a way , like coming back home . We still do a lot of printmaking and I run the printmaking studio when I can . Drawing , however , released me to explore a visual language that I would not have tried otherwise .
( By now , we ’ ve drifted up into his studio . At the door , a metal sign says “ BEWARE OF THE DOG .” At the bathroom , another sign says “ GENTLEMEN .” The studio is open in the middle , with stations for each various parts of Rivers ’ process : drawing board , standing easel , painting easel , and couches . His own art hangs on four walls , and a ceramic bust is mounted on the top of a stack of flat files . A television sits between windows which let light in on three sides of the room . Despite a prolific fury of creativity , his tools and the studio itself are highly organized , suggesting an ascetic ’ s discipline and rigor .)
Can you share a little about your process ? So , this relationship with animals is what I return to over and over again . In the ancient world , an iconic figure of a lion tearing apart a man has possessed me , and I ’ ve studied it since I started drawing . This visceral consumption — the lion eats flesh — is a moment of truth . It is an act that has no thinking as its prerequisite . The pounce and the grab . It reduces life to its essence , and this essence is what I ’ ve sought . Draw first , think later .
Drawing itself starts often with a classical figure — a man standing , for example . I try to cut down to the essential in my composition . But in the subject matter , I throw in everything I ’ ve got ! When the drawing is done , I wash it with paint ; sometimes going through the cycle a