I have been working with Roy Albert Berry since I started at MOCA Jacksonville. I always enjoy our time together, and I recently got the chance to sit down with him and pick at his brain a little bit.
Image by Jonathan Duck
How long have you worked in the field of art installing, and how long have you been here at MOCA?
I was thinking about this the other day. I think it was 2008, so eight years. It was right around the time that [Deborah Broder] came in as the director. [Debbie left MOCA in 2010.] I've been here for all eight years, working in some capacity.
What originally got you into art installing?
It was a total accident. My girlfriend at the time was working here at MOCA, and they needed someone to work in the café [now NOLA MOCA]. It was late 2007, and I came in to work a couple of jobs with the café. That's when I met Brent, who was the preparator and the “facilities guy” at the time, and he had asked me if I knew how to paint, essentially.
So I said, “Yeah, of course.”
That's when I started coming in to help paint and doing facilities type work around the building. Then after a couple times like that, they started asking me to help unpack stuff. That progressed to starting to hang stuff, light stuff, and on from there. But it was a total accident. I just basically needed money at that particular time.
What did you do before you were an art installer?
I was, like, the collector of weird jobs before this. Let's see, I was the graveyard shift at the front desk at a hotel off I-95. I was a substitute waiter.
What in the world is a substitute waiter?
I was just, like, on call in case someone didn't show up. I was a terrible waiter, though, so that didn't last long.
OK, anything else?
I drove special needs kids home from school. I was a currier for a construction company. I worked at an organic sugar cane farm. I was a pizza cook at a jungle pizzeria in Hawaii. I was a wine salesman for a little while, too. Yeah, there's probably more that I'm forgetting, but that's the short list.
Do you have a favorite art exhibition? It doesn't need to involve MOCA.
There is this guy that lives in Jacksonville whose name is Ryan Johnson, and he just consistently makes, in my opinion, some of the funniest, smartest, strangest work. I remember when I was about 16 or 17 years old, he was showing at a space at the beach. He wasn't much older than me, but I remember that his work was just doodles on old math homework. These were really good doodles and paintings, and I remember that everyone in the show was so serious. Everybody had these little price tags like, “I want a hundred dollars for this painting on a desk”, and his prices were like, “a million toothpicks.” He has consistently gotten better and better. I think that show was probably my favorite showing of an artist that I can remember, and I think it's the most influential to me
Do you have a favorite exhibition that we have shown here at MOCA?
Balance and Power [2009] was pretty amazing. That was an older show. It was mainly a video show, and there were these kind of pod-like theaters that were built in the space. They had different films shown in each one, so it gave you this private viewing of the film, which was nice. There was also this big installation by Jenny Marketou in the middle, and there were these surveillance cameras piped into this huge wall of TVs outside of the gallery, and it was really, really solid. It was a great show. I mean, they all have the tendency to kind of run together because we actually work on them. When it's your job, and not just casually seeing something, it makes you view the work and the space differently.
Do you have a favorite installation experience that you could share with us?
Umm … it would have to be the Balance and Power installation. It was just so unreal stressful, because it was the first time that we encountered objects that didn't fit in the building in the traditional way of bringing them through the door. It wasn't even the pieces themselves, it was the viewing pods. They had to be hoisted up the Atrium, and that was just roadblock number one. Then the installation in the center was very interesting. There were a lot of very specific ways that we were supposed to blow up these balloons, and tie them, and no one was really clear on exactly how to do it. It was tense, a very tense installation.
When you are not installing art, what are your pastimes?
I'm always, if not making art, at least actively thinking about my own work and how to make it better. I mean, there are peaks and valleys in the creative process, so I can't say that I am always doing that. Lately, I've been completely re-obsessed with playing Street Fighter III, because Street Fighter V is coming out. I mean, I also have manic spells with hobbies. I go through periods of all or nothing with things, and at this moment I'm in a transitionary spot right now. My main focus has kind of been on photos, school, and work.
OK … I'm excited to hear your answer to this one. What is your spirit animal?
I want to be one of those little microscopic bear things. I can't remember what they are called. [We found out later that they are called “tardigrades.”] They're like the toughest living organisms ever. I mean, that's not me at all, but I would just like to be one.
I know you mentioned that you are in a bit of a transitionary period between things, but do you have any specific projects you are working on that you are excited about?
Yeah. I've been working on that photo series for the Community Foundation for about a year now, and I'm getting really close. I'm excited about finishing that, but I have no idea where I'm going to show it, or if I will show it. I've been collecting images for this series of zines that are going to start coming out pretty soon.
Are you producing the zine, and do you want to drop any hints?
It's called Cream Zine. That's all I'm going to say.
Can you describe your Community Foundation work that you mentioned?
I've finally figured out a pretty succinct way of describing them. They're portraits of Jacksonville neighborhoods that represent how far we are from being a peaceful place to live. 'Cause it's essentially about racism, homophobia, sexism, any “ism” that can be put into an image. These things happen all the time here, and I'm making portraits of those things around town.
That sounds fantastic! Well, I do hope you find the opportunity to show this work. I know that I will be looking out for your upcoming projects, and I want to thank you for sitting down with me. I know that our readers will enjoy getting to know a little more about you.