Journalism / Eric joyner Robots and Donuts interview
We want Robots. To clean for us, to cook for us. To keep us company. To star in animated summer block busters. To remind us of who we are. but above all we need them to halt the unholy onslaught of donuts from space. Eric Joyner has complied nearly twenty years of paintings of these bold battery powered raiders and roughnecks into a book entitled Robots and Donuts. Separately you might think that each of these things, automatic people and bits of fried bread, are great but side by side its pretty obvious which one will make you feel like a bucket lard after eat half a dozen of them and which will nurse you back to health once the sugar rush cripples you knees cholesterol hits you. Pop art using popular icons like these reinvigorates the art world in particular and people in general giving them perspective on how we see the world. Recalling the genesis of his automatic paintings Eric Joyner said, “Back When I was in art school I used to go to these fair grounds about once or twice a year, and they’d have theses toy shows, that’s when I found all these tin toys….I thought the people who would buy theses toys would buy my prints I really never expected it to be a big deal.” People did buy his prints, but something else made it into a big deal. The Robots in the world of Eric Joyner mimic us, becoming our illegitimate subconscious offspring, sure some times they rampage; one of Mr Joyner’s most arresting painting depicts the conclusion of the famous fight between Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, Ali and Liston are replaced by those paragons of conflict the Rockem’ Sockem’ Robots, there is a diptych which depicts Eric’s star-bot Sparky hung by the neck from a rope tied to the roof of a cathedral. Some the images are fantastic, some are haunting , all are honest.
Joyner embraces the humanity of his automatons, the part of them that makes for good Issac Asimov stories and bad Will Smith movies. Some times they are contemplative sitting under willow trees or terrified by a cosmic incursion of marauding donuts “First I thought where would these robots be so I put them in space, so then I thought where wouldn’t they be so I put them in bars, then I thought they needed a nemesis: donuts” Eric’s logic has a seamless way about it, a mechanized rationale that revolves around these tin toys. Sparky stands out from the dozens of tin faces, “I think [Sparky’s] Original name was Hiru. He has a lot of emotion, you know with those bulging eyes. He’s perfect for running away from donuts.” Sparky is attention addict who Eric rewards with a lot of canvass time. The paintings with Sparky are full of sexually aroused robots and machines that build other machines. Allot of questions are raised by Eric’s choice and evocative imagery, questions concerning how we see ourselves in the design of things we build to help up us, to defend us from ourselves and to remind us of how to be people.
Eric’s recent popularity in the film industry and in themed gallery circulation is due to his ability to articulate humanity though his paintings like. Written and directed by Greg Grunberg Group Sex, a film about sexual addiction and advertising, will feature a cameo by Eric Joyner and his paintings. In San Jose his work is on display as part of ‘Robots: Evolution of an Icon’ at San Jose museum of art. People are reacting to the humanity of Eric’s figures, Eric responds to the world that manufactures his subjects “I’ve been to the big comic conventions,” he said “your always sitting at the you booth and your so excited to see someone…anyone.” Eric likes to have his work showcased to see how people react to seeing humanity depicted in the in an automatic form. Some people look and can’t help themselves from smiling, others just let their vision walk through the a world of men made of gears, pistons, and shafts and tin, driving suped up model T’s through Italian Villas and Tuscan roads.
“I used to like Rockwell’s work. I admit it. I never really thought about it. I don’t think I paint like him”, Eric says commenting on how Americana has influenced his work. Like Rockwell he imagines a certain America but he takes that image into the stratosphere, the universes, and the boxing Ring. “I try to make a lot less sense than [Rockwell],” Joyner asserts. It is a goal worth having. The world of tin toys in bar fights, workerbots addicted to the sweet sugary goodness of fried bread, a place where the sinister congealing saucers taunt and terrify tin toys.
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“We want Robots.” – “robots” is usually not capitalized
“summer block busters” – “blockbusters” is usually one word
“but above all” – capitalize “But”
“battery powered” – hyphenate
Titles of books should be italicized: Robots and Donuts.
comma after “are great”
“its pretty obvious” – “it’s”
“a bucket lard” – dropped word – “a bucket of lard”
“after eat” – “after eating” or “after you eat”
“cripples you knees cholesterol…” – “cripples your knees and cholesterol…”
“Pop art using popular icons” Is there another kind of pop art? – consider deleting “popular” as an unnecessary word
comma after “people in general”
comma after “automatic paintings”
“Back When” – don’t capitalize “when”
comma after “art school”
period, not comma, after “they’d have theses toy shows”
period after “buy my prints”
period, not comma, after “subconscious offspring” (which is a cool phrase, by the way)
“sure some times they rampage” – should be “Sure, sometimes…” – end with period, not semicolon
semicolon (or period), not comma, after “Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali”
comma after “paragons of conflict”
period, not comma, after “Rockem’ Sockem’ Robots”
“Some times” – should be “sometimes” when used as an adverb
comma after “contemplative”
period after “marauding donuts”
comma after “would these robots be”
period, not comma, after “in space”
comma after “where wouldn’t they be”
period, not comma, after “in bars”
End the quotation from Joyner with a period.
period, not comma, after “tin faces”
“Original” – don’t capitalize
“Sparky is attention addict who” – “Sparky is an attention addict whom”
“Allot of questions” – “A lot…” (“Allot” is a verb and means something totally different from “many.”)
“though his paintings like.” No idea what you’re trying to say here – recommend deleting “like.”
“Greg Grunberg Group Sex” – comma after “Grunberg” – name of film should be in italics
comma after “San Jose”
“San Jose museum of art” – “San Jose Museum of Art”
semicolon, not comma, after “humanity of Eric’s figures”
period after “his subjects”
“conventions,” he said “your always” – “conventions,” he said. “You’re always”
“the you booth and your so” – delete “you” – “you’re so”
“in the in an automatic” – delete “in the”
semicolon, not comma, after “from smiling”
“through the a world” – delete “the” or “a”
“suped up” – hyphenate
“model T’s” – capitalize “Model”
“Villas” – don’t capitalize
“paint like him”,” – comma inside the quotes
comma after “Eric says”
comma after “Like Rockwell”
comma after “a certain America”
“boxing Ring” – don’t capitalize “ring”
This is an interesting and entertaining topic (and I’m glad I read it), written with many clever and vivid turns of phrase, but it needs a lot of work in the areas of punctuation and caplitalization.
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The first big block of text is a little intimidating. I read through it, but I highly reccomend breaking it up perhaps.
On the topic of the subject itself, very interesting. is Joyner a real person? He sounds quite interesting. I think you have some good material here and I hope to read more. I can’t find anything else wrong save the block of text at first, as the rest is very well done and there are no typos.
Keep on typing!
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