Is there anything about the way you produce your work that you believe to be unique or unusual?

Aesthetically, I've been perservering in a direction that is unusual; trying to derive my principles directly from nature instead of through the filter of art-historical practice; so it stands to reason that I should obtain unusual results. Also, I have developed some methods that are unique; at least I haven't seen anybody else using them. My Sculpted Paint technique, for instance, affords me a way of making polychrome sculpture and jewelry that is lightweight and durable without sacrificing the surface detail I'm so fanatical about. On the other hand, many of the techniques I use, like lost-wax casting or lapidary polishing, are quite ancient indeed, although I may use modern innovations in these areas as well.

The technology that makes sculpture by computer possible at all has only very recently become affordable enough for individual artists, so the work I'm doing in this field is very much an exploration of unknown territory, yielding new discoveries constantly. Instead of trying to make a secret of this technology, like the ancient alchemists, I've tried to embrace the model of the early scientists instead; sharing what information I've managed to gain and trying to learn whatever I can from others. In a new field like this, I think there's a lot more to be gained from cooperation than from competition.

What style of art really makes you angry?

I'm fairly tolerant of most kinds of art. I can appreciate some paintings on velvet and even some graduate student exercises that attempt to illustrate the latest nihilistic art theories. What does bother me are artworks that function entirely as souvenirs of their author's celebrity; especially when that celebrity has nothing to do with art. When the lame artwork of convicted serial killers, for instance, sells for more than the best work of real artists who have devoted themselves to creation instead of destruction; I have a problem accepting this cheerfully.

I also resent art that plays into the popular stereotype of the artist as lunatic/conman, although I can understand the temptation to go for the only type of press coverage currently available to artists. I think the internet gives us a way out of this trap; providing a way for artists to be found, and to interact with our public without having to pander to the media or grovel at the doors of galleries. If we have an avenue through which art can be appreciated for its merits, unfiltered by the prejudices of critics and headline writers, then I feel it has the possibility of regaining some credibility and becoming a vital part of our cultural life once again.

Do you ever expect to get rich/richer out of art?

I certainly wouldn't mind making more money from my artwork; I think I deserve it, having spent my whole life working at it. But this is more a hope than an expectation. For the practice of serious art to become a lucrative profession for more than a very few, some major changes would have to occur. The first thing needed would be a new way to reach the public. The internet has provided a start in this direction, although at this point the people looking at art on the net seem to be mostly artists themselves. I'd like to see more success stories; collectors who purchased an unknown artist's work becoming instant millionaires. This is the sort of thing which sparks collecting enthusiasm, and is all too uncommon in the contemporary art field. There is no other reason why the market for "collectibles"- mass-produced objects which supposedly increase in value because of their artificial rarity- should be so hot, while the market for hand-made art- which is genuinely rare- should be so tepid.

The other thing that is required is to develop a way that art could be distributed on a mass scale. While films have raised the actor from a lowly itinerant to God-like status, and the recording industry has done the same thing for musicians by allowing them to sell reproductions of their work to many people for a small amount each; so far visual artists are mostly still trying to sell individual pieces for relatively large sums. I'd like to see a technology arise so that high-quality limited editions of visual artworks could be downloaded from the Web upon payment of a fairly small fee. If artists started to get an income stream from their online efforts, they would be encouraged to put more time and energy into developing their sites, and the work therein. For the art world, this could have the same effect that the invention of the Nickelodeon had on the development of motion pictures.

I'd also like to see the online art world become more integrated with the "real" art world of museums, galleries, and collectors. At this point, they seem to inhabit parallel universes which extend infinitely but don't touch. One idea I had in this regard was an art show where artists from around the world would send digital images- or even sculpture digitally encoded- to a real museum, which then would print them out and display them to its live audience. This circumvents some of the major problems-like crating, shipping, and customs- facing curators who might wish to expose their public to art from outside their area. It is the sort of thing that could help let people all over the world find out what's happening artistically in other areas, even if they didn't have internet access themselves.

What would you like to be better at, and why?

I feel I have a lot to learn about sculpting on the computer, and I've been working at increasing my facility at 3d modeling, CNC machining, and the computer-related skills involved in making it all work together. As a hands on sculptor, I find some of this incredibly frustrating, although the rewards are potentially great. Each software program and machine comes with its corresponding learning curve, and I am not at the top of any of these, although I feel I am improving slowly.

The other major area I need to work on is the self-promotion that every artist needs to do. I've always shirked this aspect of being an artist, and my career, such as it is, has suffered for it I'm sure. I keep thinking that I'll put on a major push sometime soon, and then I get involved in doing more art instead. I used to think I'd find an agent who would take care of all this distasteful stuff for me, but I've since realized that these people are mostly figments of artist's wishful imaginations, and don't actually exist, at least for those who need them. I've resisted signing up with a gallery, partly because I have misgivings about the consignment-sales business model and partly because I resent having to line up behind every other artist in the world to beg for a place on someone's wall. In general, I've become convinced that a gallery is much more a place to cash in on ones preexisting fame than to attempt to establish oneself in the art world in the first place. So it seems like the internet is my best hope, or is at least most congenial to my personality, and I'm concentrating most of my outreach efforts there.

Andrew Werby