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Who's talking about WHiRR? PFA Episode 20 - Interview with WHiRR artist Katharine PFA Episode 21 - More with WHiRR artist Katharine WHiRR on MAKE Interview on Missevilkitty.org Eye Candy Interview In December, I was interviewed for the Winter issue of Eye Candy zine. Below is a snippet of the interview. Q. when did the image of Boris come to life? A. A couple of permutations of Boris existed prior to the current model. The first was a crude doodle of cubes that sprouted arms and legs. That was in 2001. In 2003, I was invited to participate in a birthday art project for my boyfriend's sister. She's an artist, so the family decided to create individual pieces of artwork for her. I drew a robot wearing a smoking jacket and a monocle and smoking a bubble pipe. His head and torso were much larger then. The current version was "perfected" in Spring 2004. I should note that Boris is the name of the model of the robots I draw, not of an individual 'bot. In some of my artwork, there are two or three robots in a scene. They are all Borises, perhaps named after famous ones (Boris Artsybasheff, Boris Karloff, Boris Vian, Boris Hall, etc.). This will be an issue I'll have to address in my FAQ someday. Q. What is WHiRR? A. The simple answer is that "WHiRR" is the sound Boris makes. I was initially calling my company BitterBots, after my website Blissfully Bitter. As the character of Boris has evolved, I've found that he's more befuddled or perplexed by the world around him and occasionally amused, definitely not bitter. After experimenting with a variety of sounds and word combinations, I settled on WHiRR. It's a homophone of "were," which is fitting because Boris is representative of a future that we seem to be bypassing. When robot servants finally come into fashion, they won't be big and clunky, they'll be cute, curvy, and plastic. They will also make a low humming sound rather than a mechanical whirr. Q. Do you travel much and if so, how do you think it impacts your artwork? A. I think even the most mundane tasks, like going to the grocery store, influences my art. I'm not a world traveler, but I have been to Canada! When I'm travelling, I find lots of inspiration but very little time to sketch out my ideas based on inspiration. I live in Orlando, in the middle of tourist country, and I think that has influenced my art in a major way. Boris is a retired robot and we're not at a loss for leisurely activities here. If I lived somewhere else, Boris might still be employed! Get the Winter issue of Eye Candy. WHiRR on the web activity page on The Sampler sketch on Robot-a-Day WHiRR at Orlando International Fringe Festival WHiRR mention on Awful Cufflinks WHiRR/Bitterbots on web zen |
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