MAKING A TOUGH PAINTING: Rob Schamberger Newsletter 15OCT23
Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses.
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Battle-scarred Shogun, explosion when my pen hits tremendous.
“Embarrassed”
Acrylic on 30” x 20” board
THE EMOTION SERIES
Above is my new addition to my series of paintings exploring how I experience different core emotions as a person with Reactive Attachment Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s the hardest project I’ve ever done and ‘Embarrassed’ is the most difficult painting I’ve ever made on every level. From the complexity of the piece to what it means to me on a personal level and how it speaks to childhood trauma, I’ve never had an experience like this as an artist. I had a full-on legitimate breakdown when I laid it out and I’m not making that up. That whole “tortured artist suffering for their art” thing never rang true to me…until I started this series.
While working on this, I had to become sort of detached from the subject matter and instead focus on making the painting to the best of my abilities. Until I got to ‘the kid’, which is how I had to phrase the image of me as a child to get through this without having another breakdown. But that’s been my approach with all of these paintings, focusing on them as paintings while I was in the course of making each and then letting them soak in once done.
My therapist advised me to let the paintings speak for themselves and to let the viewer arrive at their own meaning. I think they’ll mean very different things to different groups, whether it be the people closest to me in my life, folks who only know me casually, people who know my art who don’t know me personally, or people experiencing these pieces cold. There are different meanings to be gleaned for each person.
There’s little to no research or writing on adults with RAD and that was actually my driving inspiration to do these paintings. One, to let people learn about the condition, two to then bring awareness to it, and third to then spur professional academic research so that more people like me can get the help they need. Also, it’s an effective way to communicate how I experience life to my therapists and to those close to me as words fall short. Lofty goals but a worthy cause, I feel.
Here are the first two paintings from the series, in case you haven’t seen them:
“Excited”
Acrylic on 20” x 30” board
“Alone”
Acrylic on 30” x 20” board
I had a really intense nightmare after finishing that one.
Some will have me as the model, others won’t. There’s a reason for that but I’ll let the paintings speak for themselves on just what that reason is.
I was explaining this series to a friend of mine the other night and showed them these first two and explained the new one and they said, “Oh, that’s me. I experience that. I never knew.”
In all honesty, which holy moly this is the most honest I’ve ever been with my work, but in all honesty if these end up only helping me and that one other person then I consider this series a massive success.
UPCOMING WWE PAINTINGS
Rhea Ripley
Cody Rhodes acrylic
Card subject to change.
Hundreds of prints and paintings at Schamberger Labs!
Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints on WWE Shop!
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Instagram
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
Making It So: A Memoir by Sir Patrick Stewart is a fascinating look into a lifetime of creativity. My personal fondness for Stewart centers around his time as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and of course watched his turn as Professor X in the X-Men movies. The book dives into his time with both of those roles, but it’s actually more about his love of acting on the stage. Now, I’m not a theater person and I actively turn off with anything having to do with Shakespeare, but hearing about Stewart’s experience with them and what they mean to him was purely wonderful.
There’s also a fantastic story about when he met Sting on the set of Dune and had no idea who he was. “Oh marvelous, you’re in a police band!”
Sgt Rock vs The Army of the Dead by Bruce Campbell and Eduardo Risso is a total romp of a supernatural war story. Also yes, THAT Bruce Campbell. Sgt Rock and Easy Company, nearing the end of World War II, encounter a mad plot involving zombie Nazi’s and an opportunity to take out Hitler. It honestly could have been done in one issue but I’m so glad they did six instead. Plus, Eduardo Risso is one of the best comic book artists working today and seeing him tackling this stuff is a hoot.
The Forged by Greg Rucka, Eric Trautmann and Mike Henderson is a rad start to a military sci-fi story. It’s part Dune, part Starship Troopers, part Lovecraft, and part climate change horror. All of which makes it an engrossing page-turner full of lovely art by Henderson.
I finished reading the Sandman Mystery Theatre Compendium volume 1 by Matt Wagner, Steven T Seagle, Guy Davis and friends yesterday and gosh it’s outstanding. I’d read bits and pieces of it over the years but it’s great to read a huge chunk of it like this. I’m really, really fond of the DC compendium collections so far. If you’re unfamiliar, it follows the titular Sandman in the 1930’s, Wesley Dodds and his relationship with Dian Belmont. Dodds, cursed by Dream of the Endless from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to have dreams that set him on the path to solve crimes while wearing a gas mask with a fedora and spraying his foes with a sleep gas that also acts as a truth serum.
But what makes the series so compelling is Dian Belmont, an independent woman who falls for Dodds but not to the detriment of her own identity. She aids him in his quests, but he often helps her in her own as well. It’s a wonderful twist on concepts like The Thin Man and the radio version of The Shadow. An equal couple solving crimes while often trying to also solve their own interpersonal dynamic. And MAN the art is gorgeous. The subtlety of Davis’ art never ceases to astound and the guest artists are wonders to behold in their own right. Great, great stuff. Volume one contains the first 36 issues and the annual. I hope sales warrant the second volume to finish out the series because this is so dang good.
We didn’t even coordinate the second one. We’re of a mind.
YOU GOOD?
Friday was the 17th(!) anniversary of Katy and I’s first date. We spent it in Tulsa, OK working SmackDown at the BOK Center, one of our favorite backstage venues. They have a photo booth back there that we always take advantage of, which is where the above photo strip came from.
Our lives are wildly different from the kids we were back then. We’ve grown a lot as people and as a couple and are continuing to put in the work that relationships require. But it’s cool, that we’ve grown to being people who do these jobs, that know these people, that get to have these experiences, and that we get to do it all together.
There can be a lot of downtime backstage, waiting for the Superstars to have a moment in their busy days to sign some prints. A few months ago I finally had the brilliant idea to bring a travel watercolor set with me and work on something for those quiet stretches. The above is what I painted on Friday.
Years ago a 7 year-old kid told me something very valuable: Skulls are cool. Truer words have never been spoken.
Love you more,
Rob
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