Robert Seven puts everything, including the kitchen sink, into his art.
The Candler artist is known for his "lost objects" art, which he displays everywhere in his home and on his ride. Dubbed "Emerge-N-See," the 1993 ambulance Seven drives is covered in his art, which ranges from wall hangings to paintings and dolls and things that can’t be described in words. One of his most treasured canvases lies on his ballroom floor, left to be walked on, "a piece of the real world," Seven says. His suitcase is plastered with spoons and kitchen utensils, a traveling testament to the man who sees the world through slightly discordant lenses.
The Rutherford County native says he aims to look beyond the ordinary to lead his fans into a world that presupposes nothing and questions everything.
Seven let Carolina Home + Garden inside his home to answer a few questions, but he resists being labeled or placed in a stereotypical box; that is, unless it is adorned with seven baby doll eyeballs.
Favorite color:
Favorite artistic medium:
Best thing about living in Western North Carolina:
Most treasured memento:
Morning routine:
Evening routine:
Collections:
Secret fantasy:
Favorite gadget:
Pets:
As a child, wanted to be:
Favorite poet
Political cause:
Vehicle he drives:
Personal hero:
Item he’d grab if the house were on fire:
Favorite musician:
What music does he play in the studio?
What’s in the fridge?
Best thing about being an artist:
Worst thing about being an artist:
Biggest art dilemma:
What’s on the bedside table?
Next big purchase:
Can’t live without:
Personal philosophy:
Person from history he’d like to meet:
Drink of choice:
If reincarnated, would like to come back as:
Most treasured piece of clothing:
Describe your home:
What’s new in your house?
Latest project:
Sources of inspiration:
Robert Seven is available for home and studio tours by appointment at 828-667-1599 or by email at rfrito7@hotmail.com. When not at home in his Candler studio, he’s traveling the country at art fairs.
Everything, everyone, all the time. I just received a case of baby doll eyeballs, about two or three dozen. Almost every piece I create has a third eye, which represents the vision beyond our eyes. And I’ll be working on musical frying pans. I built a stage so that people can hold parties here. I do one party a year and now we can use the amps and the stage for entertainment. A temple of intertwangleism. A bright yellow high school band jacket. Me with wings.It’s a three-way tie between water, sweet tea and margaritas. Eve. Follow your heart, if you can find it. If you can’t find it, never stop looking for it. Water, oxygen and love. None. I don’t think about buying stuff. I don’t have bedside tables. I sleep around. I have a bed in the front room, on the deck, in the grand ballroom and in my outdoor studio. I enjoy getting my work out to people who don’t go to galleries, but then I put myself in a vulnerable place. It’s a double-edge sword. Being asked questions like "what is that supposed to be?"The rich variety of relationships I have. I’ve been so incredibly blessed by the people I’ve met. There would have been no other way I would have met them except through my art. An assortment of exciting foods and beverages, including champagne. You’re liable to hear anything. Baby Gramps.My keys and my laptop. I’m not attached to objects. The pictures on my laptop are the most irreplaceable. Galub du Ja’moon, an animated creature who is the epitome of the court jester for me. He is a hodgepodge of beauty and ugliness. I have lots of everyday living heroes, and all of them are flawed. People say living heroes will let you down, but their flaws make them whole. A 1993 decorated art ambulance called Emerge-N-See. Truth.: Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Daniel Boone. He was an explorer. I feel like I’ve achieved that. None. I’m suspicious of the whole pet phenomena. It’s like it’s an extension of their own egos sometimes. People collect things and pets to fill an emptiness. My LED disco light. I take it to all my events. A world garden. They shift and change regularly. I collect things to make art and then move on to something else. I’m suspect of the human impetus to collect. I resist routine. Our routines trap us. Gratitude, fruit and yogurt and assorted magic elixirs.A pin my mother used to wear and is now on my ceremonial jacket.Not too cold and not too hot. And we have more organic farms than anywhere in Eastern America. Food. Art doesn’t stop when you put the brush down. Green, because it’s the color of balance, associated energetically with the heart.