6 | There’s Always Another Shell When You Need It with Gerard Russo

In this episode of Through the Creative Door, Alexis sits down with Gerard, a talented creative known for his unique approach to art. Gerard’s signature style combines mark-making, painting, etching, and strategic backlighting to challenge the traditional boundaries between sculpture and painting. He shares insights into his creative process, how he navigates the hustle of being a working artist, and the rewards of commissioned projects. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of art, innovation, and perseverance, and get inspired by his journey as an artist pushing the limits of traditional mediums.

If you’d like to see more, you can follow Gerard on instagram; @ gerard.russo.art

 

This episode was recorded on 15 February 2025 on the lands of the Woiworung Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.

Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.

Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor

 

…

Creative resources from Gerard:

Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday 

Mastery by Robert Greene

101 Things to Learn At Art School by Kit White 

Let’s get social:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/ 

TikToc: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast

 

CREDITS

Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor

Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel

Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel

 

00:09 - Alexis (Host)

Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. Owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I'll be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I'm delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door. 

Hello, you, amazing human being. Oh, my goodness, I am so chuffed to be having you on Through the Creative Door. 

 

01:01 - Gerard (Guest)

Thank you for having me, yeah, and for calling me an amazing human being. You're also. You're also an amazing human being. 

 

01:07 - Alexis (Host)

Oh, my goodness you are such a talented bear for those listening. I am in this beautiful space of yours looking at some of your stunning artwork that is um surrounding me. How would I describe your signature medium? there's so many, 

 

01:26 - Gerard (Guest)

Often the reaction I get. People will be like so what am I? What is that? What am I looking at? 

 

01:34 - Alexis (Host)

it's so beautiful. 

 

01:35 - Gerard (Guest)

I love working in a medium that does that to people. It just confuses people right away. It's a great, great tactic right Start off with confusion. 

 

01:45 - Alexis (Host)

Fantastic. Fantastic.

 

01:47 - Gerard (Guest)

I'd describe it as an interplay of emitted light and reflective light that I'm very attracted to. But yeah, so my process is a mark-making process combined with an etching process and a backlighting process. 

 

02:06 - Alexis (Host)

So yeah, it is a bit confusing. It's not confusing, it's just beautiful tapestry of creative ventures all in the one to create your work. It's, yeah, absolutely stunning. 

 

02:21 - Gerard (Guest)

Thank you. Thank you. I guess that's why I keep doing this, because that end result that I get it's It can be so varied and so wonderful. I really really love working in it, which is why I've worked in it for a while now. 

 

02:31 - Alexis (Host)

Well, I mean, gerard, you have like such a yeah, distinct signature? 

 

02:42 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, thank you. It's a nice medium because I can really open it up in the way I backlight it. I can express anything I want on top of it which will be backlit. But also there's the copper and how it can change, and how it can change in getting a different patina, effect or reflectivity. Yeah, it's just got lots of potential I can keep unpacking and keep challenging myself with, I suppose. Yeah. 

 

03:16 - Alexis (Host)

And that's half the fun of it, right. 

 

03:18 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, it's fun a lot of the time, but I'm sure, yeah, as you know, with processes come headaches. 

 

03:24 - Alexis (Host)

Trials and tribulations. 

 

03:25 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, yeah but I think, I think every or a lot of artists they, they need that to an extent, they need a challenge and it's definitely been that in many ways yeah, how beautiful. 

 

03:42 - Alexis (Host)

We are in your beautiful home. we are next to your gorgeous office. I have a sense that this is one of your many creative spaces. Yes, but I'm not going to lead you down the garden path. 

 

03:58 - Gerard (Guest)

No, that's okay, yeah, yeah. 

 

04:00 - Alexis (Host)

What does a creative space mean to you and why? 

 

04:04 - Gerard (Guest)

I think yeah is a dedicated space that is free from judgment from yourself and other people and one way you feel safe to create. Essentially and I'm lucky to have that as a dedicated art studio with my partner, elizabeth um- 

 

04:25 - Alexis (Host) 

Who for those listening we have had on the podcast she's the one that got me into she, she roped you in yeah, she

 

04:41 - Gerard (Guest) 

I'm very glad. Um, so we have a joint studio and, yeah, it's lovely and I'm lucky to have had a dedicated studio space for over 10 years, you know, in various houses. Yeah, I think it's really important just to have a nice lead space, if you can. I know so many people. It would be the kitchen table for a temporary time, but for that temporary time it's still a dedicated space and creating that is important. Um, so, yeah

 

05:14 - Alexis (Host)

Love it. Well, it's stunning, stunning. Can I just teleport here anytime that I want to? 

 

05:21 - Gerard (Guest)

I should also say, yeah, I'm sitting at my desk, which is what I use for the administrative part of my art practice, and I feel like that's really important, too, to have it separate from the creative space because, that's a pretty hard thing to separate sometimes, and I do have a workshop where I do a lot of my building and etching and things like that. 

 

05:44 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, beautiful. Now. You've been in this artist game for a long time, but could you um share with us a body of work or a piece of work or a project that you're most proud of creating, and how did it come about? 

 

06:13 - Gerard (Guest)

I don't have a specific body of work or even a single work that I'm most proud that I can think of, but, um, what I am really proud of is having it is being an artist that some people have come to and been commissioned for some extremely sentimental artworks, and just to be an artist that people think of for such a dedicated, sentimental gift or gift to themselves In particular. There was a few over the last two years, but there's one in particular that I actually I can't really talk about in honor of the client. But, yeah, that's probably what I'm most proud of is to be there. 

 

07:03 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, that's probably what I'm most proud of is to be there and in those instances, like, are people sourcing you out? And reaching out to you or have they, like, come across you for a word of mouth and seen? 

 

07:14 - Gerard (Guest)

your work. Yeah, it's often a combination, Like they might see me at Open Studios, which is actually coming up in March. Which is actually coming up in March. But yeah, that one in particular was word of mouth from another artist that actually recommended me to these people. 

 

07:32

So yeah you don't necessarily know where it's going to come from. You've just got to keep creating and putting yourself out there. I guess I think it's a good sign you're doing pretty good if stuff is coming to you, um, but it doesn't always happen like that, so you can't just expect that. You gotta, you gotta also push, push for it. Yeah, the hustle, the hustle. Yeah. Well, I think I think a big part of the hustle is just like being active in what you do, you know, yeah and being active in community too, letting people know what you're up to, what you're doing. 

 

08:05

And that was what really got my practice off the ground was starting to do open studios in the Darling Ranges here and, yeah, it made me commit to my practice more. It connected me with the community and other artists in that community. So it's just like, yeah, you just got to surround yourself with it, right, you just got to stand on a box. Even so, it's just like, yeah, just, you just got to surround yourself with it, right, you just got to put stand on a box. Even if it's uncomfortable, we've got to, you know. 

 

08:28 - Alexis (Host)

I'm here yeah, I'm here, hi, everyone look at this stuff I made. Look at this cool thing I did

 

08:32 - Gerard (Guest)

yeah yeah, it can be a weird, weird thing, but um, it's a really beautiful thing sometimes, yeah. 

 

08:43 - Alexis (Host)

On the flip side of things that you're proud of. Have you had something challenge your creativity?

 

08:53 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, my entire medium. What do you mean? Well, you know this isn't my primary medium for those listening. My primary medium for those listening is copper and acrylic sort of backing, so it's not a readily available material. I do work in charcoal and paper as well and dabbling in a bit of sculpture, and my works are primarily sculpture, but it's 2D wall art. But this material I couldn't access it in big quantities, large quantities at all. I had to have it actually manufactured just to be able to do it. 

 

09:37 - Alexis (Host)

Right yeah. 

 

09:38 - Gerard (Guest)

So yeah, I don't know if you imagine just not being able to go to the shops and buy a canvas kind of thing, that's like. Just to start with, that was a big challenge negotiating to get things manufactured and imported, and it was a real commitment to my art. It was a real decision my, my art. It's a real decision.

 

10:06 - Alexis (Host)

And how have you sort of like maneuvered through that with like negotiating and like.

 

10:08 - Gerard (Guest)

Uh well, I just had to keep, keep working it and keep talking to suppliers building those relationships and yeah, yeah, it was a little while back now and because I had to order a big quantity. So, yeah, yeah, it's a really fun medium to work in, but I'd say that was a big challenge and.

 

10:23 - Alexis (Host)

Did it make you think, perhaps, maybe that was there ever a crossroads for you of whether that was the medium that you wanted to continue working?

 

10:41 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, like a lot of artists, I had doubled around in a lot of different mediums. I've always drawn and that's always been a foundation for me, but I was doing animation and, yeah, filmmaking for a bit and jewelry making, which is kind of how I got into etching copper in the first place, as well as making electronics and all kinds of I'm a maker as well, you know so master of all the trades yeah, um, but yeah, like I said, it was definitely uh a decision to commit, but I think, uh, yeah, I saw the potential in the material and I wanted to work with it. 

 

11:20 - Alexis (Host)

And there's so much beauty in it. Thanks, so much beauty in it. I'm glad that you persevered. Now, do you have an object or a thing that you can't live without when you're creating? 

 

11:40 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, and you probably get this answer a lot. My headphones. 

 

11:44 - Alexis (Host)

Really? Why? 

 

11:48 - Gerard (Guest)

Well, in the workshop they protect my ears from loud noises, but also if I'm in the studio and I just need the music or I need an audiobook or something, it can really help my mind just focus on something while my hands do a lot of the work. Yeah, I've also got this sterling silver mechanical pencil that I picked up on a road trip and I like to start a sketch with that if I can. And I like to start a sketch with that if I can. It's like a cool art deco, one made in the 1950s. 

 

12:26 - Alexis (Host)

That's so cool. 

 

12:26 - Gerard (Guest)

It's like a beautiful object, and I've got a watch that I bought when I sold my first house, yeah, which is sentimental. It reminds me that time is limited to keep going,

 

12:42 - Alexis (Host)

And we spoke off mic about your watch being one of those self-winding. 

 

12:50 - Gerard (Guest)

It's a self-winding mechanism. It's so special I actually have to keep moving if I want to know what time it is. 

 

12:57 - Alexis (Host)

It's like what are you doing? 

 

12:58 - Gerard (Guest)

moving your hand around Trying to make my watch give you. Why are you still waving at me? Why are you doing moving your hand around trying to make my watch.  

 

13:05 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I do like beautiful objects like that. Um, I wouldn't say I collected lots of stuff, but yeah, those would probably be the big ones. But yeah, headphones definitely like you can isolate yourself with them, you can like. Sometimes I actually just put them in to make the world a bit quieter so I can focus and, yeah, very versatile good anchor yeah, the earbuds yeah yeah.

 

13:33 - Alexis (Host)

Amazing. Now, if you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another creative, what would it be? 

 

13:43 - Gerard (Guest)

We're talking about this off mic before a bit as well that's just so many rabbit holes um, I would really recommend approaching art from a place that's always coming from you and not be making art for someone else. I think there's a definite distinction there and you're going to make the. If you make work from you, you're making the best art possible because it's from your hands, it's from your heart, so you just have to keep trying to connect with that place. I see a lot of artists trying to chase the client by making what they think people want, but I genuinely believe that there is a market for what you make, naturally, so that's probably a good snippet of wisdom. Another one would probably be um, it's hard right, because we're talking about this too. 

 

14:48

We're talking about this the art thing, the hustle thing is really hard and, uh, one side effect of working from yourself is that it can really it can break you sometimes. It can really be a lot of hard work. You might end up questioning what it is that you're doing like, because it's very hard to be a creative in society, right, um, but all those broken feelings when you're at that point and it's just, it feels a bit like life or death, it feels fractured, it feels really broken, like it's just a shell. You just have to actually push through that, because there's a flood of creativity behind that and that's where the growth is in your practice as well. And there's always another shell for you when you need it. 

 

15:44 - Alexis (Host)

So true. 

 

15:47 - Gerard (Guest)

There's as many as you need. 

 

15:50 - Alexis (Host)

Oh, such wise words. Such wise words, my goodness. Now, if someone wanted to develop their creative process, if someone wanted to do what you do and I know that's multifaceted because you, you know, etch and draw and sculpt and whatever but are there any resources or guides or podcast courses, anything?

 

16:24 - Gerard (Guest)

Your postcast, oh, everybody should listen to this you're too kind I actually. 

 

16:31

I actually don't do that many podcasts. I do a lot of audiobooks. Um, yeah, I I do have some resources that I've been recently on that uh, neon that are quite good. Ryan Holiday's the Obstacle is the Way. I'm really loving it's taking examples from history and how facing the fight of the thing is actually the way through the thing. What was the other one? Yeah, Mastery by Robert Greene is a really, really good book. It does a similar thing. I haven't finished it, but I'm really loving it. Good insight into human behavior and even talks about the idea of apprenticeships and things like that and working under mentors and things like that. 

 

17:32 - Alexis (Host)

Have you ever had a mentor? 

 

17:34 - Gerard (Guest)

No, I had lecturers I looked up to a lot, but I like the idea of a mentor. I mean, I would have loved to have one for my practice, but it just wasn't there because there's no one really doing what I do. So not exactly, but uh, yeah, my work's a lot like um printmaking in many ways. You know, etching copper for that. Um, yeah, like direct examples of people that want to do what I do, I would say look at printmaking, or look at backlighting or lighting designers and things like that. 

 

18:07 - Alexis (Host)

Amazing. 

 

18:08 - Gerard (Guest)

But yeah, I got a book behind me, actually that I this book. By who is it? Kit White 101 Things to Learn at Art School. 

 

18:21 - Alexis (Host)

Oh, my goodness. 

 

18:23 - Gerard (Guest)

It's so good. It's just got nice little snippets. 

 

18:26 - Alexis (Host)

Oh wonderful, yeah, I'm going to have a look at that off camera, off mic. Yeah, it's very good. 

 

18:31 - Gerard (Guest)

I think it's more visual art focused, but it's really good. 

 

18:35 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, I love that. 

 

18:37 - Gerard (Guest)

I like the title as well. 

 

18:38 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, such a great title yeah. 

 

18:43 - Gerard (Guest)

It's very, very cheeky. I love it. 

 

18:48 - Alexis (Host)

Last question if you could have anyone come on this podcast and answer these questions, who would it be and why? 

 

18:56 - Gerard (Guest)

Can I? Can I offer two yes, please so, uh, the first one is my brother. He is a Luthier, he makes acoustic guitars and he's probably the most talented crafts person I know, so I feel like that would be a good one today. It's music and craft, so it might be a good fit. And the other is my friend, Sarah Caso. She's a jazz musician and very, very talented and such a lovely person. Oh, vibe, yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll love her. But yeah, those are two creatives in my life that have really helped me out. 

 

19:39 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah. 

 

19:40 - Gerard (Guest)

Yeah. 

 

19:41 - Alexis (Host)

Beautiful, oh my goodness. Thank you so much for being through the creative door and having us have this beautiful chat. Yeah, such a joy. 

 

19:53

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye.