(photo: Rose Mattrey)

Why you should know who he is: Ran Webber’s training in architecture is evident in his paintings on paper. This month he travels to Florence, Italy to participate in the Florence Biennale. He has been a working artist since the ’70s, having managed a gallery called the Gallery Wilde as a part of the larger Franklin Street Art Project in the ’80s, during which he became somewhat notorious for his “Supergraphics” public mural/graffiti projects. He spent some time in day jobs, including working at Fisher-Price, and retired recently in order to return full-time to his art making. He has shown extensively over the years, and his work can be seen at www.ranwebber.artspan.com.

Current Project: “The Florence Biennale (Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea). I was invited to be in this show from my Web site. Their committee sought me out after seeing my work online, and invited me about a year ago. I am showing four new, small works that I will be taking on the plane with me. They are sort of geometric-figurative in style. One work is titled ‘Blue Nose’ (pictured left). I was looking for something that was reminiscent of the early Italian Renaissance in these works, with some references to the artists Giotto and Cimabue. I guess it has taken me into some concerns about the Renaissance use of perspective. I’ve been looking at Filippo Brunelleschi, the Renaissance Architect’s work [architect of the San Lorenzo Church in Florence]. In one of the works I reference the Trade Towers, which brings in that architectural element. The works resemble constructivist and cubist styles, but it is really more about the environment.”

How did you deal with the difference between your day job and what you did in your studio? “I came from an engineering background. I was introduced to mechanical drafting in the public schools and my professional life was in architectural and mechanical drafting. I found it difficult to make the transition from the tight, technical drawing at work, to a more painterly style. Two years after retirement, I think the process is much more loose.”

Education: “I went to technical, vocational high schools, and studied architecture at Arizona State University. I studied art with Eugene Dyczkowski, who was a former Director of the Albright-Knox, when I was in high school.”

Artistic heroes? “A lot of them are architects… Brunelleschi and Paolo Soleri; also Pablo Picasso, Christo and Andy Goldsworthy. John Nagy on ‘Learn to Draw,’ the television show was an early influence. That and the Catholic Church I was almost imprisoned in as a child.

Other artistic influences? “Rusted metal surfaces, crushed and weathered cans, cardboard boxes and brown paper bags.”

Tell me about your process. “I use fresco paint on paper. I take the painting out into nature, usually on a kayak trip, I’ll float it in the water and let the water “baptize” the piece and manipulate it. They come out crumpled, dissolved and torn, humbled by nature. I then rework them, re-creating them after they have been nearly destroyed.”

Tell me about your “Supergraphics” and where you can still see them in Buffalo. “There’s none left. Here was the methodology: when I developed the Franklin Street Art Project, I used these ‘Supergraphics,’ which would direct people to the gallery. They were everywhere from the size of a brick to the full side of a building. Then I developed a map where you could seek them out. At one time they were all over the City. When I had an artist in residence, I was working throughout the City with kids in schools and in community centers, developing public art.”

What if not a visual artist? “An architect or a gourmet cook or an adventure guide.”

What is your favorite thing to do when you are not making art? “Kayaking and adventuring. I’ve done a lot of world traveling, and I’ve seen most of the major archeological architectural elements.”

Favorite food? “My vegetarian cooking.”

The perfect day? “A day when I don’t overeat; it steals my energy.”

Special spot in Buffalo? Forest Lawn Cemetery and the Grain Elevators.