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5 Minutes With Robert Tillberg

Robert Tillberg is a passionate American painter who has exhibited his work throughout the US. A love for drawing life-sized versions of his favorite Star Wars characters as a child eventually turned into a passion for fine art, and in the years since choosing his creative path, he’s explored a wide range of different materials, techniques, and styles. Today, Tillberg primarily composes large-format abstract paintings with industrial and minimalist qualities.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist? 

At a very young age. I believe the earliest memory I have, is of me sitting on my bedroom floor drawing my toys. Most kids wanted toys to play with, I wanted them so I could draw them.

Can you talk about your artistic influences and other artists you are most inspired by?

 There’s been quite a few over the years, for I’m easily inspired and I have worked in just about every style and medium. I’d say in recent years it would be Richter, Rothko, and Kiefer.

Do you prefer to work alone or collaborate with others?  

Alone…I’m an introvert to the extreme and have trouble working if someone is even watching me.  In college, I’d mix paint the entire class and it wasn’t till class was over and everybody had left that I’d pick up a brush.

Can you tell us about a project you’re currently working on? 

I’m just about to finish up on my biggest project to date, and that is the opening of my own “Brick & Mortar” studio/gallery downtown here Klamath Falls, OR. The date keeps getting pushed back with me continuously making last-minute changes, yet I’ve now just about exhausted every option and should finally be opening the doors in the first week or two of August.  

After that, I’ll be jumping into a number of projects that I have planned with the Canon Pro6100 (60in Giclee Printer) and Sony a7Riv (61mp Camera) that I recently purchased.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t an artist? 

I’ve been playing the guitar for +25 years, so I’d hope something with that. Although realistically, I’d most likely still be stuck in the family business with my brothers doing large balloon displays for a variety of events. Which I did for years until I felt confident enough financially that I could make it as a full-time artist.

Have you found any other artists on SINGULART whose work you admire?

There’s many…I know their face and work, but I can’t say I spend enough time on here to know their name off of the top of my head. I do better with visuals…go figure.

What advice could you give to young artists starting out?

Pick Your Poison…As I said earlier, I’ve worked in pretty much every style/medium and used to drag them all out from show to show for years and was just making it by. It wasn’t till I took the show coordinator’s advice to “pick a poison” that I started to really make it. Things picked up really fast after that too! Not only did it help me make more money, but I also saved more since I eventually began to consolidate the materials I was using. I’m now to the point where I only pretty much offer 3 sizes that are “ready to hang”.  Trust me, it will make shipping a lot easier once things get going. Oh, and my poison was/is abstract.

For more artworks by Robert Tillberg visit his SINGULART page here