Audio By Carbonatix
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 54. Bobby Zokaites.
Bobby Zokaites keeps farmer hours.
You might think the Tempe sculptor and recent master’s graduate from ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts rises early because his large-scale installation pieces, which comprise woven repurposed seatbelt webbing, require any and all waking hours to complete. Instead, it’s more about caffeine. “I’m normally up before dawn,” Zokaites says. “I get to the studio by 7 mostly because that’s where I keep my coffee pot.”
See also: Phoenix Animator Lisa Poje: 100 Creatives
I came to Phoenix after a two-year stint as the grounds manager at Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. Franconia is an arts residency located in Shafer, dedicated to the creation of large scale sculpture. So in two years I helped to facilitate the construction of over 100 large works. The energy I brought with me to Phoenix was substantial.
I make art because the challenge and spectacle of large scale sculpture requires the teamwork that is romanticized in frontier living I have found that the creation of art can help solidify a community.
I am most productive just before it rains.
Inspiration is something that I go looking for, it comes from my friends, it comes from the communities with which I work and the materials that I’m working with; It comes from the romanticization of the past and the hope that the future will have a physical and human quality about it.
I’ve learn the most from my peers, from keeping up with them in conversation. Really there is nothing more pleasurable than working next to someone on a project.
Good work isn’t modest, it doesn’t hide itself behind a closed door, in a conversation or an archaic subject. Good work, having a corporeal affect, creates its own space and changes its own surroundings.
The Phoenix art seen could use more ambition and audacity. The youths which are playing the Phoenix Valley are some of the best artists I’ve worked with. Investing in this community is a risk, but imagine about what the naivete of youth can achieve.
See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:
100. Bill Dambrova
99. Niki Blaker
98. Jeff Slim
97. Beth May
96. Doug Bell
95. Daniel Langhans
94. Nanibaa Beck
93. Nicole Royse
92. Ib Andersen
91. Casandra Hernandez
90. Chris Reed
89. Shelby Maticic
88. Olivia Timmons
87. Courtney Price
86. Travis Mills
85. Catrina Kahler
84. Angel Castro
83. Cole Reed
82. Lisa Albinger
81. Larry Madrigal
80. Julieta Felix
79. Lauren Strohacker
78. Levi Christiansen
77. Thomas Porter
76. Carrie Leigh Hobson
75. Cody Carpenter
74. Jon Jenkins
73. Aurelie Flores
72. Michelle Ponce
71. Devin Fleenor
70. Noelle Martinez
69. Bucky Miller
68. Liliana Gomez
67. Jake Friedman
66. Clarita Lulić
65. Randy Murray
64. Mo Neuharth
63. Jeremy Hamman
62. La Muñeca
61. Kevin Goldman
60. Emily Costello
59. Kerstin Dale
58. Vara Ayanna
57. Nathaniel Lewis
56. Ruben Gonzales
55. Lisa Poje
