Robert Obier

Robert Obier | Primus Deco | 2022

Your work exists at the intersection of craftsmanship and advanced technology. How do you personally navigate this balance during your creative process?

I like to view the work as a merging of craft and technology, the handmade and the computer generated. The degree of each of these influences may vary greatly from one art piece to the next, both from the standpoint of the specific inspiration and also the particulars of the construction technique. There is a continuous interplay between what I am trying to achieve and express with the particular choice of material, finish and construction methodology. All must work together to achieve a complete, unified and fully resolved work.

Robert Obier | Citadel – Iteration #3 | 2022

With a background in architecture and industrial design, how has this experience shaped your approach to sculpture as an artistic medium?

I am first of all a designer. I consider my artwork to represent the fusion of the disciplines of architecture, industrial design and fine art. The sensibility and particularly the organization principals I developed through architecture are essential to everything I create and continuously inform the discipline that gives shape to my work.

Many of your pieces feel like artifacts from imagined worlds. What role does storytelling play in your work?

Sometimes a story is a particular message such as a warning of the possible dangers presented by artificial intelligence implemented without sufficient guardrails. Other times, the “story” may be more of a mysterious feeling that triggers a memory or perhaps a meaningful suggestion somehow created by a piece. I often refer to this quality of memory and suggestion as the scars of a past life.

This sense of story is an essential ingredient in my work. I think, perhaps, the meaning we convey through the stories we choose to tell provides an inescapable expression of who I am as an artist and who we are as individuals. In the end, my work reflects some elemental view I have of existence and the human experience and that will be the story I have told.

Robert Obier | Dynamo XL | 2021

You reference both Leonardo Da Vinci and contemporary studios like Industrial Light & Magic. How do historical and futuristic influences coexist in your practice?

These references certainly do coexist in my heart and mind. For me, they represent the scope of human invention and imagination while providing a continual source of inspiration. Particularly the actual designs themselves. Not simply the form or the final result, but the process as well: the continual evolution and refinement. Art is essentially a process of decision making, evaluation and moving forward toward an objective, often not fully envisioned until the very end. At least, that is how it is for me. That is actually the magic of it. It can be a revelation for the artist as well as the viewer. I love to study the process and to see how the final result affects others.

Robert Obier | Ghost of the Singularity from the Digital Deep | 2025

The surfaces of your works often suggest aging, weathering, or a “past life”. What is the significance of time in your artistic narrative?

I believe time to be the structure of the narrative of our life and of all human existence. We have the ability to study and experience remnants of the past. We live our lives moment to moment in the present yet we imagine and dream of the future. We view the world through an ageless lens. The past, the present and the future are always with us. This is the basis for who I am as an artist and a primary theme I hope to achieve in the work.

Robert Obier | Talisman | 2023

How do digital tools like CAD modeling and CNC fabrication expand – or challenge – your creative freedom?

Twenty years ago, I attended  the industrial design graduate program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, for the primary reason of expanding my modeling skills and understanding these (still new) manufacturing technologies. Art Center is one of the top design schools in the world and the experience was far more than I ever had hoped for. When I decided to pursue art-making, I believed that I would rely more heavily on these technologies than I have to date. While I have indeed created a series of pieces that are machined using CNC resources, I have found that I very much enjoy the spontaneity of developing an art piece as part of the process of making. This, of course, is not afforded by the rigors of 3D modeling and the necessity of completely planning the piece beforehand. However, I expect to build a series of a few pieces that fully incorporate both approaches later this year.

Robert Obier | XL Limited | 2024

There is a sense of both familiarity and mystery in your objects. What do you hope viewers feel or question when encountering your work?

The idea that the pieces embody both familiarity and mystery is exactly what I would hope for. I want viewers to feel like, first of all, this is a very compelling piece to look at and to study. Perhaps not knowing exactly why. Then to feel like they have seen it or something like it somewhere but not sure where exaclty. Perhaps it just reminds them a bit of something. But after some reflection they come to realize they have never seen anything quite like it. So what is it? Where did it come from? I guess I don’t really know, but it intrigues me. I have been told by some that certain pieces remind them of Star Wars or maybe Game of Thrones. Even both at the same time. A favorite response of mine is when someone says the piece feels “powerful.”