Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Mercer.
Hi Brian, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Brian Mercer. I grew up in New Jersey about 30 minutes away from Philadelphia. Considered South Jersey it was a heavily wooded suburbia at the time. My father was a union carpenter, and my mother was mainly a stay-at-home mom but did the occasional accounting job. She is also a watercolor artist. She gave my brother and I all her sketchbooks along with her “How to draw” books. It was our art foundation as we also discovered our own music outside of the house, comic books, and skateboard culture. As far as education I took art classes all through high school, but the teacher mostly talked about Catholic miracles through my four years of classes with her. I kept taking the classes in the case I would be attending art school afterwards. I didn’t have the money for the art schools that I was accepted into, but I took two years of painting at a community college. Those classes were taught mostly for hobbyists, so I dropped out. I was painting more out of class than in. Plus, I was learning more about art, skateboarding, and just hanging with people with similar interests.
My real education came when I started making posters. My younger brother Kevin (also an artist) and I were in a band together. We started making flyers for our band. Which led to making flyers and posters for our friends’ bands. Which led to us to making poster for our favorite bands. Alabama Thunderpussy, High on Fire, Mastodon, Lamb of God, and countless others gave me a shot to make all of the mistakes and all of the successes that led to my art career. I learned how to meet a deadline, price a job, how to work with others, and who not to work with. Poster were a wide-open area to express different ideas a band wouldn’t normally express on an album cover or shirt. So I could play more with visuals. Some of them worked, and some didn’t, but it was extremely formative as to what I was capable of doing given the tasks at hand.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t classify my career as a smooth road. Maybe ups and downs. Some drifting off to experiment or just life getting up and letting you know things can get weird. If I look back at my over 20-year career, I can say it’s been mostly an incline. I’ve had successes, met so many people, gotten to travel, and learned from failures. The pattern continues. I think mostly because, with my base-level talents, I’ve also had to work to gain the skills I have now. Working to become a better artist and draftsman has allowed me to express things visually that I couldn’t say 10 years ago or even five.
One major speed bump came just before 2020. Obviously, we all know the pandemic happened, but just prior to that, I was extremely burned out with making art for the music industry. There were a variety of reasons, but mostly, I was beginning to feel my artwork was becoming disposable. I believe most art has to go out into the world and live its own life. It’s just unfair to ask any art to appeal to everyone with its release or first viewing. I think this is true with visual art, movies, music, and so on. Being asked to whip something up within a week just to be forgotten after a t-shirt gets worn out or thrown out was just getting less and less appealing. I wasn’t making my best art. When the pandemic came, my goal was to use that to make some pieces for myself. I also hunkered down with new techniques that I could add to my repertoire. After a while, I got a little carried away because I had zero structure. It turns I work better with a deadline. I’ve started taking clients on again with a better perspective and a much healthier attitude.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I mainly work as an illustrator. I’m mostly known for my pen and ink drawings, silkscreened concert posters, and watercolor paintings. It’s constantly involving. Pride gets me in trouble, but I guess I’m proud of being able to relate and work directly with artists to get the visuals they want. As far as what sets me apart from others is something I really don’t really dwell on. I’ve realized comparative thinking is really unhealthy. I work as hard as I can in my studio. If not me, then who?
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Right now, I think this is something I want to keep to myself and those close to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mercerrock.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmercerrock/
Image Credits
Dante Torrieri
