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Guided by Voices plays Pittsburgh on Sat., May 17. Robert Pollard, the Ohio band’s über-prolific songwriter, currently has Junk Collector and Scrabble King, an exhibition of his collage art, on display at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination.
Have you always had some desire to have your work exhibited?
Not until recently did I think it would be possible, or that anyone would care. I had a similar apprehension, or even fear, in the early days of writing, recording and playing music. To tell you the truth, I never received a great deal of support for my art and music from friends and family when I was younger.
What did you do first: music or art?
I’m sure they both happened simultaneously in a very crude form at a very young age. I drew, cut out pictures and made up songs which I would sing a cappella into an old, small reel-to-reel tape player. Later in junior high and high school, I began to make fake album covers, so art and rock went hand-in-hand from the beginning.
Tell me about some of the pieces in the show.
I am very fond of the process and have pretty much become addicted to it: finding interesting source material, dissecting it and then re-assembling or re-combining the images I’ve just removed into much more interesting or eye-catching combinations. Giving them higher culture or greater import.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2014.
