Pop, Paradox, and Found Objects: A Conversation with Local Artist Brett Whitacre

 Join us as we sit down with local artist Brett Whitacre to explore his exhibition, Everything’s Fine: cheerfully poking at the disconnect between bright pop imagery and underlying struggles. Brett shares the inspirations behind his work — from vintage Americana and found relics of daily life to salvaged materials like wood, windowpanes, and old televisions. Discover how his cheerful, pop-infused visuals hide deeper reflections on personal, cultural, and societal challenges, and hear about the murals and art pieces that have become landmarks in the Rockford community. Tune in for an inside look at the paradoxes in his art and the stories behind each piece. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, there's one that I did on the side of Ernie's a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Ernie's Midtown Pub.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Yeah, in in Midtown, yeah. Because I did not design that. Um Vic Rivera designed that for his love of Rockford. Right, right. And he's friends with um Andrew over at Ernie's. And Andrew wanted me to do something, and we're trying to figure out exactly what that was gonna be, and then that came along. It's like, oh, this could be on my wall.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

And so just kind of a collaboration.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Welcome to the Rockford Public Library Podcast. Today, we're joined by local artist Brett Whittaker, who's sharing the stories behind his newest exhibit titled Everything's Fine, cheerfully poking at the disconnect between bright pop imagery and underlying struggles. It's showing right now in our main library's first floor gallery. And in this conversation, Brett gives us a personal look at his career as a colorblind, self-taught artist, the paintings featured in Everything Fine, the inspiration behind them, and how he mixes bold, bright visuals with themes that make us stop and think. Hi, Brett. Hello. Thanks for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

I'm happy to have you. We're thank you for being here at the Rockford Public Library Podcast. We have Brett Whittaker with us today. He's a local artist, muralist, painter, and he's showing his exhibits in the first floor gallery. Everything's fine. Cheerfully poking at the disconnect between bright pop imagery and underlying struggles.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

That's fantastic. Let's start, let's talk a little bit about your history. You're a self-taught artist.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yep. Just uh was a doodler in high school, you know, um, was not a good art student, actually got bad grades in art class. Did you? For not applying myself, you know. Uh because it was someone else's uh idea to give, you know, you give someone an idea for art, but art should come from, you know, something you want to do or something you care about.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

You think the ideas in art should be original to the artist?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

For me to care about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

It's been kind of my idea and did not know that was happening early, but uh or maybe I just wanted to socialize.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

But you you learned that about yourself as time went on. You learned that if you had your own idea, you would pursue it pretty heartily. If a teacher assigned you an idea, you might not give it all your energy.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Yeah, and and now professionally, like uh given a commission versus just making art for myself in my studio, it's very different.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Is it?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

And for a commission, I have to kind of nowadays make sure that I somewhat like their idea that they want me to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Otherwise, it might be hard for you to get motivated?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yeah, or like do a really good job on it.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I believe it.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

So I do say no to some things that I don't really want to spend my precious time doing.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

What's an example of the time you said no?

SPEAKER_00 3:23

I'm saying no to personal portraits or like someone gets married and like, can you paint a picture of us, uh, a snapshot from our wedding, and like the lighting's bad, there's weird shadows, and I I've done it a few uh enough times to know that I could mess this up. And, you know, it wasn't really my fault, but like some bad shadowing. I'm like, well, that's what the picture looked like you gave me.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Right. So I could see where that might have an impact on your um ability to get excited about a project, whether it's your idea or someone else's.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Sure. I'm pretty selfish when it comes to creating art nowadays, especially.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, yeah. Why do you think that's time is precious? Right. Time is precious.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

You have kids, you have a family, and if I'm gonna I do need money, yes, but um if money isn't an issue at the time, like you better want to do that commission. That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Tell me how you learned to paint, self-taught. How did you teach yourself?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Uh it didn't come until like I didn't mess with paint. You know, a little bit in high school we were forced to, but uh not until I was living in Chicago. I was a bike messenger, and I would start finding junk in the alleys and bringing it home. Like windows. Windows, luggage, uh analog television sets that everybody was chucking at the time because everything was going digital.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Ah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

But I like those little relics, you know, those small TVs. So um was never fond of painting with brushes. I don't know. I think it takes a long time to get really good at that, but um choosing spray paint, I find out that it's it takes a long time to get good at that too.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

You know, uh being able to control it and have it do what you want to, you know, what you want to do, what you envision.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Well, maybe this presents a good opportunity for us to talk about the style of art that you produce and what a lot of the pieces in the show at the library are um on this cool spray paint on the reverse side of a glass. Um uh you have many pieces that are on recycled windows, uh found pieces. Um, you also have some paintings on found pieces of plywood, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah. Um found plywood, or if I have a specific size I want to do in mind, I'll just buy it now and build the canvas sort of frame. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

And then it's what I've resorted to doing with glass too, because I used to be, you know, the the thing that I found in the alley and brought home, and the shape and size of that, I'm kind of stuck to like painting within that. And I used to let that dictate like what's gonna look good in the inside this, you know, what can I compose within inside here? But now it's more like I have this idea and what would be the perfect size and shape for this.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

The perfect shape for the idea you have, rather than creating a work to fit inside the shape of your found item.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Okay. I understand what you're telling me.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

And it's really not that expensive to buy a piece of glass, hop over to Nicholson's, and they'll cut it any size you want. And now they know I'm making art on it, so they're kind of excited to like play a part in that.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Tell me about how you discovered this method of reverse glass painting and how it is that you achieve the the look of your work. It's so saturated and the colors are so bright, and um contrast, I think, is really um showcased in the really obvious, beautiful way when you look at your work. Your lines are really sharp. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Um, yeah, this is this is gonna turn into something very complex. Um what was the first question? Because we're going in the colorblindness thing and colorblindness being that you are a colorblind artist. Yeah, pretty bad, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So that's so interesting. You say pretty bad. What do you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

I have a brown filter on everything I see.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Um my red and green um keys in your eyes are overlapped all the way. Like uh some people are colorblind and it's like a little overlap. This is 100% overlap. So do I see a true red and green? Not really. Everything is messed with, and then every other color yellow, blue, purple, orange, it's all messed with.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

It's all affected by this color.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

It's it's muddied up and it's always changing with the light that's coming in. Like daylight outside in the sun, that's the best chance I have of seeing a true color, like a true red.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

But like if a cloud comes across and creates that shade, then it'll flip-flop to green.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

No.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Sometimes or the grass is fire orange or something.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Oh your artwork is so bright. There's so many colors, it's so interesting that you're a colorblind artist because that's one reason they are so bright.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Like the stronger colors like break out to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And when I'm creating art in the studio, I'm using like extreme light.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Very bright.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Okay. Yeah. So you can get a true sense of it.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

And then um did you just learn by doing the effect of the paint on glass?

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Um, yeah, uh, so bringing home the uh the canvases from the alley. Like I saw them as already frame canvases.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I didn't have a lot of money when I lived in Chicago, just a musician, um, bike messenger. Um, so I started painting on that. I didn't want to use brush uh brushes, don't really like that. And if you've ever painted with a brush on glass, you just see the streaks of the bristles, unless you have the world's softest paintbrush, which are very expensive. Um so I just got a hold of some spray paint and uh going with the concept like if you're gonna put a racing stripe on your car, you put some tape along the sides and you keep it, you control that color. So I started taping off images on glass or on the TV screens or on luggage and just experimenting and having fun and doing painting silly things to make my brother laugh or something.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Really. Things that I thought were neat looking aesthetically and a little whimsical, I would paint on suitcases and then like take them with me on the weekend when I go out of town with the band and see if I get a reaction from my friends at least. Yeah, just to be silly.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

So was there a defining moment when you knew you wanted to pursue art seriously?

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Oh yeah. Uh actually, a good friend of mine who I was playing in a band with, I joined a band in Chicago with guys I did not know. And then a friend of theirs came along who was a great musician. I ended up starting another band with, and then come to find out he had a legit art degree from Boulder, Colorado. Um and I really um respected and looked up to the way he could sketch and stuff just from out of nothing. And uh he stepped over to pick me up for practice one day, and I had been experimenting with my art stuff. I'd never showed him before, but he just saw some things in my house. He's like, Did you make these? Said, yeah. He's like, hey, those are really good. You should do more of that. And he's like looking at me like, you should do more. And that's all I need, like validation like that.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

My mom always liked my stuff, of course.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

But like someone who's got an art degree who I respected. Bold art, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yeah, create inspiration. So that was a defining moment. You started using the colour.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah, I think I started mass producing that summer on my porch in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

And then who were your first customers?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Um, I am massed like almost 30 pieces one summer. Just bike messenger for four or five hours, come home, listen to the Cubs on my porch, and grab a window and start doing something on it. And then I am massed like 28 or so pieces. And then um I wanted to have an art show. Like, why not? Like, I got all these pieces. Right. So I knew how to book my band. So I booked my band in a music venue, asked the music venue, hey, can I do an art display on the night of our show?

SPEAKER_04 12:10

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

So I brought in lights and hung up art, and they didn't even know about like charging commission or anything, so it was like, do whatever you want. And I sold half the show. Wow. 14 pieces.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

And that was validating too because I I had friends that came there and they supported me. Some people bought pieces, sure. But complete strangers were buying stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

That's really validating.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Like, oh, this is something I could do potentially to make some extra money.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Make a living.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

So and I like doing this, so you kept producing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

And that was like 2005.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

So do you have anyone uh who you would consider an influence of yours artistically?

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Yeah, there's a local artist, Damien Davis, who was my first roommate when I moved out of the house. Not for college or anything. We're just, you know, living above the train tracks in Belvedere or something.

SPEAKER_04 13:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

But he was the first friend I had that was just those just paint for fun, for leisure.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

And he had these huge canvases and he's doing like nudes and like beautiful like abstract things with paintbrushes and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Is he still in is he still working?

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah. He uh he's in like the video game production field. Oh cool. He's an artist.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah. Musician as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

How would you describe your your artistic style to someone who's never seen it?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I'd say if you like things that are, you know, uh hardlined, they call it. Like really sharp looking, crisp looking artwork and dynamic.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Because I tend to make whatever it is, uh however silly or you know, inanimate it is, make it like an icon. You know, it could be a uh ice scraper for a car, because I did that once. Um did a portrait of it. So cool. Um I don't know, dynamic and um accessible. Accessible and whimsical. It may make you feel feel good, you know. It's not too deep. I don't do a lot of deep things or a lot of loaded pieces. I do have one kind of political thing here, but you know about the FDA. But uh Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Why don't we talk about that piece? Like since we kicked into it. Yeah, right. So um Brett is talking about a massive painting that he has on a found piece of wood, right? Uh what's the title of the piece?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

FUFDA.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

FUFDA. Uh several letters. Um, and you will find a collection of identifiable fast food logo characters around the McDonald is present, the Jack in the Box guy is there, Jared from Subway. Um I can't The Colonel. The Colonel, of course.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

The Burger King, yes, the Burger King guy.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

The Chihuahua Taco Bell. The Taco Bell Chihuahua, and they are all kind of serving as pall bearers around a casket.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Um The idea was like an oversized casket.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

An oversized casket, just in case you're not catching it.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah. It doesn't, it you know, in retrospect, it doesn't look too oversized, but I had to fit it within that window I found.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Right. So tell us about the the uh idea behind that painting.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Well, I was married to uh organic farmer um at the time, and she had me uh on my knees um hand weeding a bean, a row of beans, like a hundred-foot row of beans one day.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

And um I'm not steeped in the knowledge of uh like the GMOs and stuff, but she's filled me in on a lot of stuff over the years. Right. And brought things to light. And this company, uh chemical company, I guess, Monsanto, um, they were buying up seed companies and then infusing those with chemicals like Roundup. So like if an insect comes in into contact with that plant, it dies. Right. Wow. But that's for pro food production.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

For humans. Right. We don't need that. It's kind of scary. And there's been lots of lawsuits, but they're very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

And they're allowed to do what they do because of the FDA.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah. Capitalism. And the fast food giants, why them, you know, like they benefit from that, from everything costing less, and uh allowed them to develop a dollar menu at the time, which is now like the$2.50 menu now. Right, right. Or$3.99 or everything's gone back up. But uh yeah, just a lot of cutting corners and cheating, and you know, it's not healthy for humans, and people are getting bigger and less healthy, and then the oversized coffin.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I put them in a setting of uh Beverly Hills Boulevard for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

It's just like a a lane of wealth.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Just saying it right there. Well, that's perfect. That's is that the piece that you consider the most political piece in the in the exhibit?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah, I don't do a lot of political stuff or yeah. I I really steer away from that. I did a piece of Charlton uh Charlton Heston, you know, the picture of him holding the gun.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

But he doesn't have a gun. He is a corn dog.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

And the mustard's dripping on his shoulder from my cold dead hands. You know, that's as political I've got. There you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Okay, that sounds great. Um how about your process? You spoke a little bit about your found objects and how you used to make the the pieces kind of fit the shape, but now you do more um the uh of finding the items to um create the shape that you want to.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, just buy it and build the frames myself.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

There you go. Do you have any rituals or habits that you do that help you get into creative flow?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Um just um getting away from like the stresses of the day somehow.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Just escaping into that. Like uh uh during the day, it's usually me taking care of actual business. You know, I do, you know, in my mural business, I do all this invoices and everything. I'm a one-man uh shop.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

And so there's a lot of business to do. And then I'll do family time. My family goes to sleep early from still, you know. And just like me from years of being a rocker and playing rock shows at night, that's when I do my best work, like after 9 p.m. So I'll go back to my studio and that'll be where I I have a clearer head, you know, the work's out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

You know. And all you really need is a few good hours of creativity to come up with, you know, to reconnect with your ideas or can you pull it together like um on on demand like that, or do you have to work through blocks?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Do you ever experience blocks?

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Blocks. Uh yeah, I don't know. Creativity? I don't really feel like I have um low points or like um, what do you call it, artist block. I'm always just trying to steal the time to to go and execute my silly ideas.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

And I keep uh the notes in my phone. You know, if I have free time, I'll just read through notes because I will just be driving and drinking coffee or something one day and have a really good idea for a painting and just rattle it off into my phone. Right. And often the t the voices text picks it up really bad too and interprets it in a different way, and I'm like, what the heck was I even talking about? But sometimes that uh misspelling or something can bring about a better idea.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

An even better idea. That's so great. It's all uh kind of magical how it comes together, I imagine.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Yeah. That's uh I've been in bands that were named because of one person said something and the other person heard it completely different, but it was a better name.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Yeah, I love it. That's great. Um how many murals do you have around town here?

SPEAKER_00 20:21

I counted a couple years ago, or maybe a year and a half ago. And I, you know, with I do a lot of indoor stuff too, so you don't see it maybe for a private business or a home. Uh but I counted at that point like 28. And I've had a pretty strong last couple years.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

And so it's gotta be close to 40 now. Cool. In the state line here. We're um Sarkeloyd have done this year and Pecatonica. I'm kind of grouping all those in.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah. We're gonna feature some of them in the exhibit as well in the um cases we wanted to just kind of showcase.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Um, because I think that a lot of people in Rockford know your work and don't realize they know your work. Um, we were greeted when we opened the new main library by one of your murals on the north facing side of the Jefferson Street Bridge. Am I correct? And south facing. It's south facing. Yes, it's the south-facing side of the Jefferson Street Bridge. Yeah. Um, so it's it's a beautiful mural, but uh, you know, it it speaks to your connection to the community. And um, you know, I think a lot of people will come see your exhibit because they recognize some of your murals. What do you think is your most some other famous murals that around town that people might recognize?

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Well, there's one that I did on the side of Ernie's a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Ernie's Midtown Pub. Yeah, in in Midtown, yeah. Um that one um is is different because I did not design that. Um Vic Rivera designed that for because for his love of Rockford. Right, right. And he's friends with um Andrew over at Ernie's and Andrew wanted me to do something, and we're trying to figure out exactly what that was gonna be, and then that came along. It's like, oh, this could be on my wall.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

And so just kind of a collaboration. Cool. Yeah. Um and yeah, Victor, he designs stuff all the time, just for the love of it.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, he really does. He's he's a a member of our foundation board and a huge collaborator with the library. We're big fans of Victor. Um we I I'm curious, do you work with do you collaborate with other local creatives?

SPEAKER_00 22:34

There's one other one that happened recently, the disco chicken mural. Um, which I mentioned that and everybody's seen that.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Yeah. Um it's it's really hard to miss if you ever go to City Market or cross the river on State Street at all.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Um That one is another collaboration, and it was it was my idea. Um because I don't I don't pretend to be good at everything, especially design-wise. I'm a good I often say I'm a good composer. But um Paul Sleton, the owner of Disco Chicken, he needed, he wanted to have people dancing. I don't pretend to be able to draw people or create them from nothing. You know, if I'm gonna do people in a piece, I will either hire people to photograph or um, you know, just cut and paste from the internet and compose them on my laptop in the way that I want them to look. Yeah. And that's just not what I wanted to do with this. So when that was Paul's idea, I said, Joe Tallman, he's here. He's like a great illustrator. He does this really well. And so I suggested to Paul, like, why don't we get Joe to design it and then I'll just paint it? And he's like, I like that idea.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

And Joe designed it 100%. He got paid separately, and then I painted it up. And but I can mention that to anybody around here and they've seen it.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah, that's true. It's a really recognizable mural. Everyone can kind of picture it right there in a good spot.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

What role do you think local art plays in building community?

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Um, I think it largely just shows uh a uh care being given to it, you know. Um just like fixing, you know, taking pride in your home, your personal living space. We're taking pride in our what our town looks like and feels like, and uh if we can bring some uh I don't know, safety or some feeling of safety or community cheer through these colorful murals. I think that's a great thing.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

I do too.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

I also the big floral piece down here that Weezy did.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

I mean, that's like cream of the crop.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

On the chocolate brown background and the yeah, I love that pie that one too.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

I wish that was me. I mean, that's an amazing mural. I do flowers too, but not that good.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

That's a great compliment. I I also like the idea that these murals are the independent ideas of local guys. I I think it not only shows that we're caring for the buildings and the communities and the sidewalks and the people on them, but it's also that we're, you know, kind of investing in the ideas of our local creative artists.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah. Yeah. Rockford Ice Hogs have been doing that with the Hat Series. I think they've done three of those.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

And then Arts Council with the uh electrical boxes. I think there's a second round of those and getting a little bit of everybody out there on those boxes.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Yeah. More recognition.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

I think that's a a great idea too.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Um, well, I think um the title of your show, everything's fine. You want to talk about why you chose that?

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Yeah, I mean maybe it's a fault of mine, but I I try to just um look over top of like the uh serious issues beneath everything, you know, the country, uh, the town, you know, crime, whatever, just um uh kind of portray like uh or kind of like hang kind of aloof, you know, in my artwork. I don't know, above it, not not ignoring it, but like um everything's fine, you know, kind of with a smirk.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

I like how you said look over the chaos because it's you know, it's I like not ignoring it. Not ignoring it, it's there, but like being above it, looking over it and maintaining optimism, if you will, knowing that it's there. Yeah. Knowing that it might be, you know, um an optimism that doesn't easily fit, but it's it's over on top of it, on top of what's concerning.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah. Yep. And I could I could find narrative in in a lot of things that I that I create first, and then I'm like, oh, I bet this was about a reaction to this that was happening, like the the cowboy with the lasso and like the ice raids and roundups, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Oh yeah. So when you created that painting.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

I was thinking uh it just popped in my head when I was creating it.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Oh, that they it might have that same response.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Yeah, like maybe that's why I chose this image.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

Do um people often have different responses to your pieces than you intend.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Um you know, when I host for Art Scene or any uh gallery show and I talk to people about it, I I like when someone says something about a piece that maybe nobody else has even remarked about, and I just hear what it, you know, what it means to them.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yeah, that's always, you know, value added for me, you know?

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

To get some feedback. I I'd like more feedback, probably. Um, you know, I don't receive a lot of negative feedback. I'm sure it's there. People aren't You're not getting that direct. People aren't just giving that up. Thank thank them for that. But uh yeah, I like to, you know, I should ask people what they think about it more. You know, some artists will ask right up front, like, what's this mean to you? or you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

It's valuable for you to know that.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Not terribly.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah, no, not terribly, but it's fun for you to know that sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

I like to hear the oohs and ahs and stuff. Sure. When I used to do uh fairs, art fairs, like like Greenwich, I've only done that once, but it used to be like my main thing after I quit the touring band as a drummer and went into selling art full time.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

I would book myself in several street fairs in Chicago and Milwaukee and do about 10 or 15 a year. So you're like an animal in your cage and people walking by in droves and you hear sounds. Like it could be it could really bring you down if people just like side-eye your stuff and just keep on walking.

SPEAKER_04 28:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

But I always tried to have something that was uh funny, you know, like back there or a little edgy and hear people's reaction, and that actually get them laughing or something, brings them in.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

And then they start looking at everything you have. That's great. And that I I've kind of missed that.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yeah. Yeah. Showcasing your humor and letting people react to it and seeing my strangers enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

Yeah. And I get a similar feeling, usually a negative feeling when I'm out doing murals in public.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

And people come up, I don't like people seeing unfinished work. But it's murals are very unfinished for a long time. Sure. And uh I always tell people, like, it's gonna look bad before it looks good, you know. Right. Um, and so people will just someone that doesn't know me will just, you know, start looking from afar and then turn and walk away.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Show a little judge.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

And I'm thinking they probably are thinking, well, what the heck are we doing here?

SPEAKER_04 29:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

I get really self-conscious and really negative in my head, but then all I need is one person to say, you know, something positive and it turns turns me around usually.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So you'll look for a positive. That's that's good information. I mean, it's hard, Bretton. You're you're uh, you are a successful and recognizable artist in town. And how do you manage when you hear someone criticize your work? How do you pull out of that and regain your confidence in your footing to keep going and keep going forward?

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Yeah. And it's not usually them saying it, it's me thinking they're saying it. Yeah, thinking they're thinking it.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

It's you just thinking about how they're thinking about your work.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah. I imagine just by the no expression and the walk away.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

You give it a whole story, a whole backstory. I don't think you're alone. I think that's very human.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Yeah. And so I've I will do murals very fast and like overnight sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

And is that an impetus?

SPEAKER_00 30:56

To get it looking good? I'm thinking so, maybe. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Right, totally.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Not just having a full schedule, but like, let's let's get this done and looking good.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Right, right. Um, so do you see challenges that you face as look like you you you're referring to the art shows as something you did earlier in your career? You don't do that many art shows anymore. You do murals now and you do commissions, and you talked about commissions you dig and commissions that aren't as easy and commissions that you won't take anymore. Um do you see other challenges about being a local artist and uh and other challenges, you know, about having a cur this career that you've built, or do you see it as something that's constantly in flux?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yeah, it's constantly um, it's like you know, playing keepy-uppie or hitting a beach ball up in the air, keeping it up, you know. Yeah. Keep that work coming. And not not everybody is that successful with that, and it can be very hard to be an artist, you know, locally here.

SPEAKER_02 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Yeah, I hear the struggles all the time. Um, but I was I had a lot of successes before I even came back over here. I moved back in 2020, left in 2001.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

So I was away for about 20 years. Um, and in that time I had toured the world for years as a musician and then became a professional artist and was focusing in more on Chicago, just Chicago area. That is where more art sales and commerce are happening and people with more money for art. And yeah. I never really never thought well well I could just make it as an artist just living in Rockford and selling locally.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

You know, I still don't think that that's sustainable. You have to think outside of this area.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

So do you you sell your art outside the area?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Um paintings, uh, I'm not since I'm not relying on the sales of fine art for a living. Um for murals, yes, I go outside of there. And the biggest way that I do that and that I've done since starting with murals is I advertise online. Um I utilize uh which was a new app at the time called Thumbtack. And you're hearing you've seen a lot of commercials now, they're like really growing. And um that was uh like a free, it was kind of like Angie's list. If you're like, if you do drywall, you're on there as a contractor. This is more thumbtack is more for creatives, I think.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Yeah, maybe it's more of everything now, but I'm on there as a muralist, and you can put your center point of advertising anywhere. So I put it Chicago, right downtown, and you cast 150 mile an hour or 150 mile radius. And so that touches Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all the way past here. So if people Google Muralists, that site comes way up top. I could have my own Google page or whatever, but um, this is kind of a pay for leads kind of thing, and it's really not expensive, and you don't pay unless you strike up a conversation with someone. You don't pay up front.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

So that's easier for artists to get into.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Right. Thumbtack it's called.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Yeah, you could tell it how much you're paying a week for contacts, and it'll tell you about how many new contacts you'll be given.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

You're not guaranteed to land those, but opportunities. Opportunities. It makes you better it I had to learn how to sell, you know, become a salesman for myself, and you put your projects on there, and so people can see what you've done. Now I've got hundreds of projects and I'm top rated on that app.

SPEAKER_04 34:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

So once you once you achieve that, then they just pick you off top sometimes if they don't want to mess with, you know. Delving too deep into the options. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

So has it been hard to learn how to manage your business while also being the creative producer of what it is you're selling?

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah, it hasn't been too hard. I just don't like that part of it. You know, doing the quotes and the invoices and uh, you know, 70 emails for every project.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Yeah. There's a lot. And I like to be hands-on and on the project doing it. That's what I'm the happiest. But when I'm up there on the lift and direct sunlight, I gotta do emails all day too. Yeah. You know, kind of field things and keep it moving along. So I'm not doing it when I'm home with the family at night. So those are the struggles of it, but it's manageable, and if you have drive for it, yeah. You want those jobs.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Right, sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Um in our our exhibit downstairs, the pieces, um, we talked about F U F D A. Um we have some others down there that I love.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Is there are there any favorites of Yeah, uh newer set that I produced, uh the his and hers suitcase. Since I've lived a lot of my life in and out of suitcases in hotels when I became a touring musician and did that for 10 years solid, like a lot. I did 200 or more gigs around the around the country and overseas for four or five years, and then we slowed down a little to maybe like a hundred and something. Wow. But I was always on the go and you know, traveling, playing drums, and then coming home and making art. But I like luggage. I don't know. I collect old luggage, and so depicted there in those paintings are old like hard shell Samsonites.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

And it shows I saw a diagram that came with a Samsonite once, you know, that was in there that showed suggestions of how to fold your clothes just right and utilize space.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

And that was just a black and white illustration. And so I've just had fun with that for years. Like I make so many versions of packing your suitcases for commissions. I got commissioned by someone that wanted, you know, she was a flight attendant and she's also into this and that. She wanted specific things in there.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Yeah. So that's what you made her.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah, and that was a fun commission for me.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

Yeah, very cool.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

That's very cool. They're beautiful pieces. I heard somebody tell me they wanted to buy a suitcase already. So yeah, it's been up for four minutes and we're already looking to sell.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Um I sold a piece yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

That they didn't nobody saw it here, but it was someone who wanted to buy it a year and a half ago. And as I was driving away from here, I got an email saying, hey, is this piece available? I want it. They paid me.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

There it goes. There it goes, right off the walls downstairs in the gallery.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

Creating issues.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

You have a from your work, um, I got to know you before I met you um through your work. And you have you have a few series that you run. I I'm calling them series. I don't know if you would, but um, you know, you're a sneaker guy, you're a suitcase guy, you're a you know, like yeah. Tell me about your different series that you work. What what is why do you return to these series?

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Yeah, sometimes it's only as much as like three or four things that are related.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

At a time. Um other series like the suitcases, that's just something that's been with me since like 08 or something. First did one then. And those would always sell at the street fairs. And so it could produce in a new set, new ver new version. And I don't know how many versions are out there, honestly, but several.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Do you have pieces? Do you have pieces that you've done that haven't been for sale at all that have just been for the act of creating?

SPEAKER_00 38:34

No. Um pieces that stayed at my house that my wife wanted to stay there, and just sometimes like, oh, I need more pieces for this fair, and then it goes with and then it's gone.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

What are you most excited about your show downstairs, having your show here at the library?

SPEAKER_00 38:53

Um, just suck, you know, the most beautiful like structure in town, you know.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

The library.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Yeah, yeah. It's like a you know, modern masterpiece here in Rockford right on the river, and I happen to have one of my favorite murals right outside, and it's just an honor, you know. And what a like grand hall if you look them in like a giant national museum or something. So yeah. Well, that's it's not in some like little little joint, you know. No, it's bad lighting or something.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

It's in a beautiful exhibit hall. That's true. Our gallery is we're very proud of it. So I'm happy that you're happy to hang here.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

I'm thrilled with that.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

I'm really thrilled with how it looks because I didn't know how my stuff would look before yesterday. Right. I'm looking at the size of this place and like my pieces are gonna look teeny-weeny over here. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

It's a it's a substantial room. Yeah, I think they look great. Yeah. I do. Um, you know, we're also gonna have an event that you're going to work on with me on October 15th, Wednesday, October 15th at noon at lunchtime. We have these exhibit explorations, and um, you will be doing a gallery tour, and people can come and listen to you talk about your pieces and each one and ask you questions. So I'm really excited that you're doing that.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Yeah, and I think I'll get some good feedback from that too, and I'm gonna ask them questions good as well.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

Good. Sounds great, sounds great. So we want to make sure that you come. Um, Brett Whittaker's exhibit, everything's fine, is gonna be up through October at the first floor gallery at Main, 215 North Wyman Street in downtown Rockford. Come over and see it. It is exquisite. Um, the pieces are for sale. Uh, you can there are QR codes um by each piece, and um, you know, we can um you can buy them through those QR codes. So I'm thrilled to have you. Thanks so much for coming in today and talking to us. Uh, we love having you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Thanks for having me. This I don't do a lot of these. This was fun.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

Good. I'm glad you had a great time.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Yeah.