Ricky (00:00): John, why don't you tell me about how you first got into art. I am going to assume that this is something that you got turned on to as a child, but if you could just tell me where that all started for you.
John Rush (00:17): Childhood. Yes. And I decided I needed to make a living, so I went to a school to become an industrial designer, which I did for some time, but quickly realized that really all I wanted to do is draw pictures.
Ricky (00:34): So an industrial designer about what timeframe was that, that you were making that decision?
John Rush (00:44): That's when I went to college. I went to school at the University of Cincinnati in the industrial design program and worked for a while as an industrial designer, but quickly realized that all I really wanted to do is paint. So I went out to art center and got prepared to be an illustrator.
Ricky (01:06): Okay. So industrial designer. How, how does one decide that that's what they're going to do? That sounds a bit of a somewhat obscure thing to study. I mean, not really to me, but I think for a lot of people it would be. I mean I have a degree in plastics engineering, so I'm very comfortable with studying things that aren't the standard. So can you just tell me about how you got to the point that that is what you thought you wanted to do?
John Rush (01:44): Possibly because for the same reasons you went into plastics engineering? I like machines and industrial designers, a lot of visual aspects of designing the machines as well as human interface and so forth. So it's an interesting profession and I thought it would be a lot of fun and it would be, except that I have a compulsion to draw and paint. So the compulsion overruled all other aspects in my psyche and as a result, I became an illustrator.
Ricky (02:18): Now obviously you were doing drawing and painting before you went into college. Was that something that was a big part of high school? Like were you taking a lot of art classes or is it something that you were kind of doing on your own?
John Rush (02:34): Yes, I was the high school cartoonist and worked for the yearbook and all that sort of thing. To trace back my early art career, and this may have happened to you and many other people... I as a child drew flat pictures no atmospheric perspective. I remember this happened to me when I was about, I would guess about ten. One day I was drawing a jet fighter, which I love to do with one wing up. You're looking into the fuselage from the side. One wing is going straight up when wing is going straight down so you can draw the markings on it. The us air force markings and I suddenly realized this isn't the way planes really look. The, the wings are not like that. Therefore shortened course. I didn't know that word at the time. I have to draw these wounds differently.
John Rush (03:29): I can't draw them anymore. I would like to draw them flat, but now I realize I cannot do it because it's not right. And that was an epiphany for me, that I was not a child in the same way that I used to be. And that even though I enjoyed the way children drew, I couldn't draw that way anymore. I would have to change and I, I struggled with I drew wings that look correct but they didn't have the markings on, I couldn't draw them machine guns like I used to. And I was so upset that I went back to the old ways for awhile and I couldn't do that either. Cause it didn't look right. So I knew I couldn't go back. I had to go forward. And from then on I really started to think about how things exist in three dimensions space and they've been struggling with that ever since.
Ricky (04:29): That is an incredible story. How old were you when that happened?
John Rush (04:34): I think about 10. And I think this happens to a lot of people. Even people who are non-artists, I think children get to the, the draw in a completely intuitive way until they, their brain registers the fact that things really aren't quite like that and that they actually exist in a spatial pattern that is more complex. And when they encounter that in their brains, they think, forget it, I'm going to come in and go onto Facebook or something. I'm like, I'm not going to do the same where it's too complicated. So I have the feeling that that, that happens to lot of people.
Ricky (05:13): I think that story has a lot of parallels in many areas of people's lives. In learning something new. You kind of think of things in a simplistic way and then as you stick with it, you realize, Oh, there's more to this. This is more complex. This is more difficult. And you have to kind of make a decision whether you want to move forward, whether you want to quit, where you want to stick with the way that you're doing, when you know that you're not doing it the best that it can be. Like, I think that model that you uncovered as a 10 year old specifically about writing is like a, a process and a model that happens throughout our lives.
John Rush (05:58): I think so. I think you're right. Exactly. And if you choose to abandon, what you're thinking abou it can simplify your life. And the other hand if you choose to continue to pursue the subject matter that you have now discovered is more complex. As you say, the world becomes greatly expanded,,in its possibilities and its complexities and,you see yourself as a much smaller object in the realm that you're dwelling in. And,I think that feeling has been very consistent with me since I was about 10. I don't feel much different now than I did then. It's still a, a vast universe that I understand very little about art and I'm still trying to,uget it figured out.
Ricky (07:11): So do you think that is a good thing or a bad thing that you have that feeling about being kind of a small part in a complex system?
John Rush (07:32): It's unnecessary feeling if you really are taking seriously what you're trying to explore and, and master,you have to realize that,it's, well, at least a, I don't know how it is another field science or a economics and so forth, but uin our it, it's a necessary to realize that your endeavors are,you're limited in what you're going to be able to do. And I think that's a great motive, a motivator in pursuing the art of mastery of what you're attempting to do in our, it's always elusive. It's always out ahead of you. You can never grasp it. And if you don't realize that, I don't think you're ever going to get really very good at it.
Ricky (08:20): So there's a couple of ideas that you brought up that I wanted to explore. So one of them is this idea of, it's almost like you can never master it. I know that yoga is something I don't know if you do yoga, but yoga is a a practice that I do. And really it's not something that you are doing with the intention of mastering it. And like you basically finish the yoga course and now you can do everything you, you never will. Like, it's all about growing and being comfortable you are. And how there's always an opportunity to learn and grow more. I feel the same way about painting for me. And I'm so grateful that I have this thing that from till the day that I die, I'm never going to run out of opportunities for growth with painting and create, you know, in creating artwork. So I think that I'm very, you know, I look at it in a sense of gratitude. I don't look at it as like, Oh my God, I'm never going to master this. I'm freaking out. Why am I doing this? W w what do you think about that, that, that idea that I just presented?
John Rush (09:34): I agree completely. Yes, you realize you come to a realization that it is even though you've dedicated your life and all your energy to this it is just merely a matter of exploration. You'll never master it, but you,ou're going to have a lot of,ufun and excitement, I think exploring it. Uand sometimes another thing I think about this too, this occurred in me some years ago. Usometimes I think the only real advantage I have had in becoming an artist in life is that since I'm a practitioner, I can appreciate how great the greatest artists really are. I think if I were not an artist, I don't think I could really appreciate what kind of achievements they have been able to develop in their work. And so,usometimes I think that is really the, the main accomplishments I've achieved
Ricky (10:42): Is that you have insight as to how great some artwork is.
John Rush (10:46): Yeah. huh. And as it is probably true in every field of endeavor. So I don't, I try not to dwell on that point though. Okay. It's occurred to me.
Ricky (11:00): Okay. So one thing about what we do that is a bit different if you are in a different field whatsoever, like let's say if you're a doctor and you're trying to master that, that field is always changing because they're always introducing new technologies, new medical techniques, also the entire, you know, you're dealing with a system like a healthcare system that's constantly changing and evolving. So it, you're in a sort of a dynamic environment, whereas what we do isn't so much because it, I, I don't think, I don't know what, what's your thought on that? Do you feel like the, the compared to that example I gave with a doctor in the medical field, do you feel like what we're doing is a little bit more static and it's more of like an Ricky
(11:55): Mastering type thing?
John Rush (11:58): If you want to put it in extremes on one extreme, you have visual perception and it never changes. Human beings, the visual perception we have now is the same visual perception. People who live in the Chaves him on the other extreme, you have always changing social fashion, which dictate subject matter and also development of new technology to make art which changes. So you have both the con, the absolute consistent way, the works. And then you have this a change in subject matter, interest in society, subject matter and ways to make the art. But I think unlike science, which is progressive always builds on the, the base of what existed before artists cyclical. Visually art rotates between round and flat. You see it, the Egyptian era, it was flat in the classical era. It was around, I'm talking about Western art now. In the medieval period. It was flat in the modern era. In the let's say the broke the Renaissance, it became round again. Latest fashion. It's flat again. So you have a, a cycle on how it's expressed in visual art painting. I'm thinking of especially cause that's what I do. So that cycles around and probably subject matter probably cycles around to what's, what's fashionable so in it is unlike science and it is going around and round weathers, whereas science is going on I think more or less than a sustained direction.
Ricky (13:59): Okay, great. That was a great answer. I hadn't really thought of it that way. John Rush (14:08): It may be, you know, I don't know. It's possible in the psyche that we need things that are both, we need things that progress and we need things that cycle to maintain a, a kind of balance. Well,
Ricky (14:27): Yeah. So yeah, I agree with, I agree with that. I agree with that. Based on I'm 52 on, on my 52 years and seeing things I, based on my experience and observations, that makes complete sense. I think if you made that statement to me when I was 25 years old, I would not know what you were talking about.
John Rush (14:53): Yes, I know there's a lot of that. When you're in your twenties, when you're in your twenties, you think you're pretty good artists too. Well, that wasn't really a real good artist.
Ricky (15:03): I didn't do our, when I was in my twenties, I was, I was an artist. I was an artsy kid with all sorts of artistic confidence when I was very, very young up until about fifth grade. And then I abandoned that. And I pursued the sciences,ubecause I thought that artistic stuff was trivial. I was like picked on a little bit for it. Not a lot, but a little bit. And I really loved math and science and I also knew that you could guarantee money with math and science. So I had a huge gap,uwhere I was not producing any visual design. I would say that the way my brain, my brain process things always had a, a creative,uand, and uverbally, you know, a creative aspect to it. But I didn't start expressing it, you know, in visual arts until, I don't know, probably the last 15 years or so. But,u
John Rush (16:04): Well it's an interesting bounce back. I dunno what that would feel like. I had a mild version. It was industrial design. But with you it's probably more extreme.
Ricky (16:14): Yeah. I want to talk about illustration. I think that, tell me about what, what that is, what that was when you got into it. ,I know that right now illustration., I think a lot of it I feel could be, you know, using digital tools. So tell me about what that, what that was when you got into it and what was it about it that you, you know, why you wanted to pursue that?
John Rush (16:42): Well as we've talked about, when you're going to paint a painting, you have two decisions to make. What is the subject? And the second decision is how are you going to interpret that subject? If you're an illustrator, generally speaking, you're given a subject. So you have a fixed answer to the first question, which you do is interpretation, almost all interpretation. And that interpretation is different from everything. You're going to illustrate each different story or I've done some mural work. You're trying to express a generalized idea of what's happening in a, in a time and place. Each problem is different. It's a, it's a, a almost like a detective story. You have to analyze what it is that is the essential in this and express it clearly to a white audience that is not our kind of stores. They, they, they have to pick up on it immediately.
John Rush (17:52): It's a very difficult problem to do. Well. And for that reason I always enjoyed it very much. If you're a painting, let's say for a gallery, Mmm, you can pick the subject matter, but you tend to get boxed into a, I don't know, many people get boxed into an area that of things they could sell and they tend to repeat that a lot. And I always thought that wasn't quite as much fun. So also the illustrator who are the people who could really draw, right. They were the keeper of the flame. And so I thought that was good cause I like to draw. So that's why I came. Illustrator and I have a lot of fun doing it. Got involved in some very good projects and I liked history and ms ology and got to do some of that. And so it's been enjoyable but a Im painting]
Ricky (18:48): When you were an illustrator and somebody else was selecting the subject matter for you, did you feel like you are missing out on something or were you annoyed in any way? I dunno, annoyed isn't the right way, but like did you feel that there was a, a big part of the creativity that was being removed because you are given a subject?
John Rush (19:10): Well, liken it, a lot of professions. I think slowly as you get better and develop a reputation, you can become more selective in what you decide to work on. And so I was, as I got older, especially when I got into my late thirties and forties, I was picking things more specifically that I wanted to do. They didn't always pay the most money, but they were the projects that I like more. So eventually I got to doing things pretty much that I liked. But it certainly as you starting out I mean you're doing everything you can get your hands on to make a living. And I'll tell you though, that was a great discipline. I really learned a lot about how to think clearly, simply how to execute well quickly and get it done, get it down and make it look. Understandable. And I think that's what a lot of artists who have never had that experience suffer from. So Ricky (20:13): They suffer from what
John Rush (20:16): A lack of technical skill, lack of how to draw hand in and you perspective a lack of clarity and presenting an idea to people visually et cetera, et cetera.
Ricky (20:34): I kind of feel like a big part of being an excellent illustrator. It would be, and I'm not an illustrator, so you can correct me if I'm wrong, is being able to bring things down to the most simple, the simplest level and to the simplest form and the simplest shapes and not over complicating things. Is that, what do you think of that statement?
John Rush (21:02): Absolutely. simplicity of course that's true in painting too. Also the ability to draw the viewer into the story. They're almost all stories of one short the other to draw the viewer again to make them interested in what's happening. And that's true. And probably, lots of art forms writing and the filmmaking and so forth and certainly true in illustration. And that is a very elusive kind of talent, not necessarily connected with drawing things in atmospheric perspective correctly. So it's more of an amorphic idea and hard to define. But we certainly can see it in the work of the great illustrators. So you draw people in, they become interested and then you can let's say you're illustrating a book, you're doing a series a, they'll follow you anywhere if they like what you're showing them.
Ricky (22:08): So this concept of storytelling and drawing people in I feel like that is a different part of the brain and something that's probably harder to teach. The technical aspects of drawing is probably much more straightforward and being able to, you know, train someone with just putting in an, you know, a certain amount of hours and years, et cetera. But that other part of it I like that is really maybe the true creativity.
John Rush (22:41): Well it's part of it and it's a, what you might call the psyche card or the creative aspect. And so how do you draw people in? I think a easiest way to draw them in is pick subjects as an illustrator that you really like that would make you draw you in and makes you excited and things that are fun to do and interesting for you to do. And you will convey that enthusiasm and interest in the work that you do. It will be obvious and because you sense this about the subject and you have a good technical skills you're much more likely to create something that will also draw the person in to that feeling of excitement and and enthusiasm and interest in the story. And how you do that I think depends on the, the subject matter you're working on. There's probably various ways to do it and you have to find, I think when you go from project to project, I think you have to find different ways, different ways to do it.
Ricky (24:00): It reminds me of like a vocalist who is given a piece of work to sing and she can, she's really connected to the subject matter. Like that is going to come through in the quality of the song as opposed to just getting the notes right. John Rush (24:21): Yes. And also it has to follow the spirit of the times and how people are thinking psychically about things. This is something maybe people are not aware of consciously, but it does cycle around. So as for example, Oh as we were talking about that, I'm working on a series of paintings from Homer's Odyssey, but what I'm really interested in is his relationship with four women. His wife Penelope is a Calypso a goddess who had prisons him for seven years on her Island. Calypso Searcy. It was a scerous, turns his crew into pigs and Athena. Oh, who's a very, the most powerful God is maybe except for Hera, is a champion and supporter throughout this a 10 year journey back to Greece from the Trojan war. This is a very, very old story. So I'm starting from a fixed point. As I told you with illustration, it's a known story.
John Rush (25:32): I'm not making the story of all I'm doing is an interpretation. And I've done a series of paintings of Odysseus, the hero of the story in relationship to these rooms or just paintings of women. And it occurred to me after I'd been working on this for about two or three years. I'm actually doing a series on the me too movement, even though I didn't realize it. I think that's what I'm sort of doing. These are all very powerful women, strong women, and I think I'm operating, I'm interpreting elements of this very, very old story to express the ideas that exist now about the, our current thinking
Ricky (26:21): Sounds like an ex wasn't even aware of it. Yeah. It sounds like an example of art cycling
John Rush (26:27): [Inaudible] art cycling. Yes.
Ricky (26:30): Yeah. I'm starting to realize like doing this podcast, I have all these conversations with people that it's almost like there is a limited set of conversations that you have and topics like it ends up a lot of being the same ideas. When I talk with people and it kind of relates to what you're just saying, like this, that's probably one of the first stories that was ever recorded and it's kind of the same. It's revealing itself as being a story that's currently happening. And that's been on a smaller set. My experience with having these fairly intimate conversations with people on my podcast, that it tends to be a lot of the same ideas and stories and challenges and experiences regardless of what someone is doing. It's kind of just repeated. It's a bit of a surprise to me.
John Rush (27:24): Well, maybe as we sink down, lower into the base of the psyche we get, it's like going down into a cup of coffee at the bottom. It tends to the surface of the object you're sinking down into tends to rotate down into a single bottom. And maybe as we drift down we get more and more general and more and more universal. And maybe that's, maybe that's an indication you're having good conversations,
Ricky (27:57): I think. So. I want to talk about something that you mentioned that you were into as a kid which is and I, I think you said cartoons and I know that you were a, you know, an illustrator. What is your thought on cartooning as an art form? And in what I'm thinking of is what was specifically Walt Disney, and I don't know if that, if he has any influence on you or you have any opinion on that. A lot of the people that I've talked to who are visual artists were inspired by Walt Disney. Obviously he was an animator. He made like the first full length animated movie, snow white, which was crate was a crazy idea at the time. Do you have any opinion on him as an artist?
John Rush (28:52): My opinion of snowboard is it's one of the great pieces of artwork of the 20th century. It's just a unbelievably beautiful piece of work. And I think the difficulty, one of the difficulties as you, you've got to get a bunch of people who are all operating at the same level imagination skill. And at the same time to corroborate this thing and that is completely beyond my comprehension of how you could do something like that. But just the, the level that they achieved the Disney was absolutely extraordinary. And I think they really managed to keep their quality work up very, very high, even into the
Ricky (29:42): Modern age of digital or digital films. So, so I want to go back to snow white. One thing that I recently realized about that it was the first full length Ricky (29:54): Animated film, but when people saw that movie, it was the first time that it had caused a response that wasn't like funny cause cause animated stories were to entertain people and make them laugh. And in snow white, you know, she dies, not to give away the spoiler alert, but you know, and it's very sad and you know, there's tears and making the audience in a movie theater cry with an animated film like that had never been done before and no one had even thought of the concept of using animation to get that response out of people.
John Rush (30:39): Yes, it had been done and still paintings for hundreds of years and thousands probably, but not in moving, not in moving pieces of art. So he elevated cartoons and the, what you might call ILS true illustration with which the artists had been doing for hundreds of years depicting the stories of our times, portraits our religion all told to our societies through still images and then he is no of turning those, those still illustrations into a moving a piece of artwork. So it was a big, big leap. You're right. Big, big leap in the, in, in how, what art is.
Ricky (31:26): Yup. He was definitely a a visionary on so many levels. Can we talk about what you are working on now, but do you have front burner? Back burner?
John Rush (31:42): Yeah. Okay. You can see a right in the back there. I've got a picture of Odysseus. He's speaking of these strong women in the story, Athena comes to a disuse all the time about every three pages. She makes him younger, stronger and more handsome, possibly more intelligent. I caring remember, but she's always propping this guy up. So I'm trying to pick that by a long horizontal painting. A diseased is laying, he's not laying down, but he's sitting down, propped up by his arms, holding his upper torso up. And Athena is in the distance approaching him standing.
Ricky (32:25): So that's the work in progress painting or is that the completed? John Rush (32:30): That's a, that's a completed one. And so I'm trying to suggest that even though this guy is the hero and he is an extraordinary, he's the guy that actually figured out after 10 years of war with the Trojans, I mean, the Greeks were, they'd had it, they're going to go home. He said, no, let's try one more thing. Let's come up with his horse idea. We put some soldiers in it, they'll take, they get into the Gates. Sure enough it worked. So he's a smart guy. But my interest here is to show these women who existed in this story who are also extraordinary. And this was very interesting. I think the most poetic thing I have run across in this entire story is when he's in prison on the Island of Calypso and she keeps him there. She's deeply in leveling. Oh, he's coming back from the Trojan war.
John Rush (33:23): His ship gets blown over there and he's, he's there on the Island. She keeps him there seven years and he is, and she says to him, stay with me. I will make you immortal. I will always be young and beautiful. You will always be young. Enhance them. This Island will always be a delic and we can live this way for eternity. And he says, no, I want to go back to my wife and family. I want to grow old as a mortal, immortal and die. And so she finally takes pity on him and lets him go. But I just thought that was a particularly [inaudible] poetic story. So I try to get that, put some of that into these series. Ricky (34:15): Okay. Now do you have a, is this set of work going to have a, a home? Are you going to be in a gallery? I cower you. I'm Howard. Do you get your artwork out to the rest of the world?
John Rush (34:29): Yes. I've had galleries, a gallery in New York and a gallery in Chicago, both of which are closed. So when I get enough inventory built up here, I'm going to go out and see if I can find a gallery or somebody else you can help. So this stuff for me, otherwise I'm going to have to, I don't have room enough to store it, so I'd have to burn it. So we'll start with the selling of a remedy space problem first.
Ricky (34:55): Okay. And do you ever sell it directly yourself?
John Rush (34:59): Okay. You mean on the internet or something like that? Yeah, no, no, I haven't. I haven't pursued that actually. I've got too much to think about right now in regard to making it. I'm going through a period of trying to improve my work, make it more abstract. And it's consuming me completely. I'm throwing a lot of stuff in the trash and I'm [inaudible] so I'm kind of obsessed with that. Then when I get enough of turn to the business aspect of of art, Ricky (35:33): How is that part of the process for you when you're shifting your style or your approach and making things right
Speaker 3 (35:41): Or abstract and you're having to throw things out? Is that upsetting or is that just something you know, is part of the experience of being a painter?
John Rush (35:52): You know, I'm sure you know this too. Eventually as an artist you have a detector in your brain and they already referred to it as a shit detector and you know, right away when you get old enough and you've been doing it long enough that what you're doing is, is not going to work. It's never going to work. So you've got to stop and then you've got to start over. And that's one thing I really enjoy about having experiences in artists that has become crystal clear to me in a way that was not when I was younger, I would work and it was struggle in these paintings and they would never look right. Now you get to a stage two and you realize, no, no good stuff. You got to stop. So it's always upsetting when I can't make brilliant artwork. John Rush (36:39): But on the other hand, I realize it's just a process you try. Sunday doesn't work, go to the next thing, but when you're actually trying to think, particularly when you get older, you're trying to actually change the way you work. You realize that the wiring inside of your brain, all the art wiring is set up in concrete and you've got a jackhammer that concrete out, or at least a lot of it to make even a modest change in how you work. It's amazing how the circuitry is just walked in place. So that's been very interesting to to tamper around with. But I think I'm making progress.
Ricky (37:17): Yeah. I know that you kind of rewire your brain in a certain way when you're doing something for a long time and repetitively and you're kind of in the same mindset thought patterns and kind of painting is kind of a thought pattern. It's like a a pattern of observation, changing what you're doing and responding to that. It's kinda like this, this circuit a loop. And I mean we do it. Would you agree with that? And it's sort of hardware wires your brain in a certain way. John Rush (37:53): Yes, very interesting. And it's a maddening, you become a kind of a slave to your own. Your own past self. The wearing is a, is a composite of past experience and it's, and in some ways you feel like one of the prisoner of my own past personalities, it's very difficult for me to become something different. And why? Nobody's telling me I can't know my own self as I'm trying to destroy and replace with something new. Ricky (38:27): One thing I tell people is, you know, you need to be careful about where you put your brain and how you w how w how you see the world and how you think about things because you are teaching your brain what you know, what the world is like and what you're like and how you relate to it. So you need to be really careful because you're going to end up in concrete and you want to make sure that you're in concrete in a place that is good. Because if you are, if you are thinking about things in a nonproductive way for a really long time you're going to get yourself stuck in that way. So you gotta keep it. You gotta be really careful.
John Rush (39:13): Yes, I agree. And that's the lesson you learn later. I think after you've already set up and concrete well as you were mentioning about the economic prospects of being an artist and a difficult, that is, there's a million ways to fail as an artist. I dunno if there's a million ways to fail in other professions, but the ways the possibility to failing as an artist are almost limitless. Falling Wadley into two cherry categories. One is economic failure and the other is artistic failure and they are both limitless. So if you can overcome both and be at least a competent artist and able to support yourself, I think it's a, it's an achievement. But Hey, we're only here for a short time in life. Why not experiment? Take chances. It's a lot more fun. Ricky (40:10): I agree with that. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Is there any tips or advice you can give to people that are listening to this podcast? I think people that are listening to this oftentimes are looking to use creativity in their lives and maybe listening to this podcast to people that are embracing the creative part of their mind in their lives. And is there any tips you could give, give them,
John Rush (40:43): Well, I don't know if I can give any general tips on creativity, but in regard to let's say in regard to becoming an artist of any sort, whether you're a musician or writer or a ballet dancer, I think my feeling about this, at least in my experiences, that I never really made a decision to do it or not. If you're thinking, well, I don't know if I should be an artist or I should go into real estate and you're kind of back and forth. I don't think you have to worry about it so much. I think something outside of you will tell you that you're going to be an artist. And if you listen to that thing, it will it will take over, at least that's been my experience. It takes over the brain. It says here's what you're gonna do whether you want to do or not. And so you'd better get to work and then you can suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune because you're so driven to this compulsive activity. It's really a compulsion and, and it helps you endured. And if you don't really feel that maybe it's probably, it's a possibly better idea to go into real estate or something else. Okay. In any case, I think fundamentally it is not a real decision that you make. Ricky (42:09): Okay. That makes sense. Well, John, thank you very much for talking with me. This was a great conversation. John Rush (42:18): Well, thank you for asking. It was a pleasure.
Ricky (42:20): You're very welcome. Where can people learn more about or see your artwork and what you're up to?
John Rush (42:29): My website is John Rush, art.com, and that's got my prints, illustrations and paintings, drawings. And I'm working on currently in some old stuff too. So you can evaluate the progression or lack of progression of the artists there. Ricky (42:49): You have a great name. John Rush is simple and that's, that's a good name. It's a, that's a good name for anything, whether you are an artist or a politician. John Rush (43:04): It was useful in signing work because you know, it's only eight letters. So if I had a name like Schwartzenegger, you know, I would be spending a lot longer getting signature on there.
Ricky (43:16): Yeah. Well I've, I'm, I have this weird last name [inaudible] and people are always, they can't pronounce it and they, you know, I'm always having to like explain it and it's very annoying. But yeah, you have a, the fact that it's eight letters, that's fantastic.
John Rush (43:31): Yes. Well, you don't get a, you get assigned a name so you can't, you can't choose it. It might actually be better to have a, maybe, maybe two or three numbers sequence or a three letter sequence. It might be even better. But
Ricky (43:47): Can you name your child with a number? Is that legal? That's not, that can't be,
John Rush (43:54): It seemed to me that in the 1960s, there was a slight, I heard about some people doing what just to be unconventional is because that was stylish. But I don't really have any memory of other very clearly, but I think it actually did have. So if you ever run into somebody who's middle-aged named two 37, you may have met one of those people.
Ricky (44:24): All right. All right. Well thank you John.