Nine Questions

Bryan Crow

Tucson artist Bryan Crow paints with acrylic paint, makes sculpture of found objects, and welds steel figurative sculpture. This weekend, along with hundreds of other artists throughout Tucson, Crow is participating in Tucson/Pima Arts Council's Studio Tour. However, when not preparing for visitors to his home studio, Crow told us a typical day may look like making coffee, eating some breakfast, getting centered, and going into his backyard to start his work. "Right now I enjoy kicking up the AC, turning on a playlist created on my phone, kicking off my shoes, and painting in my studio ... Art was not a huge part of my life growing up, but as I got older I had to find an activity that wasn't watching TV, buying stuff, or sports related. ... I grew up skateboarding and would consider myself a punk rocker. ... When I moved to Tucson from Houston in '01, I decided to give myself to a more contemplative lifestyle than a destructive existence. I was not clear what that would look like, but today it looks more like helping others, making artwork, hanging with my son and occasionally travelling to see friends and family." For more information on Crow, visit bryancrowartist.com and for more on the studio tour and a map of all open studios, go to www.tucsonpimaopenstudiotour.org.

—Mari Herreras, mherreras@tucsonweekly.com

What was the first concert you attended?

Judest Priest, Megadeath, and Testament. I think it was 12 when my friend's dad took us. I was blown away with that much leather, longhair and different smells in the air!

What are you listening to these days?

The Circle Jerks, Crystal Castles, Duane Peters of US Bombs, The Knife, Iggy Pop, and Joy Division are bands that come up often on my radio these days. My music choices are guided by how I am feeling or what activities I am involved with. Whether it's driving, which I do a lot of these days, skateboarding, or painting, I always have the music on.

What was the first album you owned?

My dad had all these '60s and '70s rock 'n' roll records and my mom bought me the 'hot' Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album in 1985. I don't think I liked it as much as the first album I bought myself which was Metallica's "And Justice for All" in '88.

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don't get?

I don't understand the rap that glorifies degrading women and getting lots of money. It seems to have no creativity and is super empty. 

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?

I would love to see the Beastie Boys again. They were a fun diverse group that put on a great show that a group of my friends and I had a blast watching in the '90s.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

Die Antwoord is a South African rap-rave group. It is a band that is raw and strange, which appeals to me, but has lots of sexualization and drug content, which bothers me.

What song would you like to have played at your funeral?

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" performed by Van Morrison. It has a message that I would love to leave with people, a deep feeling of pain, yet has a beauty and mystical feeling that I would want to create at my funeral.

What artist changed your life and how?

James Lavelle of U.N.K.L.E., because it was at a time when I only allowed myself to listen to punk rock music. I heard a song by him on a college radio station and it opened my mind to another level of depth of emotions that I was not willing to look at before.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?

I think it would be Luna, "Penthouse."