I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you had no idea I was a Sculpture major. Well, originally, I was a Painting major, then Illustration, then Industrial Design, before finally settling on Sculpture in the second semester of my sophomore year. I spent the next two and a half years learning how to cut wood, bend metal, blow glass, weld steel, shave plaster, cast wax. It was all very exciting to me and I loved every minute of it. Well, not EVERY minute. The sound an oxy-acetylene torch makes when it backfires is comparable to a gunshot. Oh, and did you know if someone cuts themselves on a bandsaw, you are not supposed to clean up their blood? I ended up sprinkling saw dust on the small puddle next to me because, frankly, it was off-putting.

By the time I reached my senior year in 1997, my experience with the internet was limited to poking around on AOL while I was home for Christmas. I was told by my thesis instructor that it would be a good idea for me to make a simple website so I could upload photos of my work which might make it easier to get employment or eventually, maybe even a gallery showing. I picked up a web design book, downloaded a trial copy of Flash 3, and stumbled backwards into a life making websites.

Seven and a half years ago, Benjamin Palmer (CEO of The Barbarian Group) approached me and asked if I would be interested in starting a company with him. I told him I would think about it. Benjamin was a new friend at that time. We had worked on one project together for Arnold Worldwide earlier that year and met up for coffee every now and again. Our friendship solidified on the afternoon of September 11th, 2001. At that time, I pretty much lived in the shadow of the John Hancock tower in Boston. When it was reported that a couple planes were still unaccounted for, worries began to spread that the Hancock tower might be on the list. Benjamin called me and told me to come over to his place where a few people were gathered to watch the story unfold on the news. We have been close ever since.

The next day, another close friend, Keith Butters (ECD of The Barbarian Group), mentioned that he was thinking about Benjamin’s proposal to start a company. Keith and I worked together at Circle Interactive a couple years earlier. I slaved away over squeezing 100k worth of content into a 12k animated GIF banner ad, and Keith was at the next desk slavishly cropping the shadows out of hundreds of photos of watches and pens. We certainly paid our dues and through the drudgery, we became close friends. I trust his judgement so when he said he was going to accept, I called up Benjamin and said I would accept too.

We met up in Benjamin’s apartment in Roxbury and began to formulate a plan. It was there that I formally met Rick Webb (COO of The Barbarian Group). I had known Rick but only in passing. We both worked at Arnold at the same time, but didn’t have any direct interaction with each other. He impressed me right away. Im still amazed that someone with so many friends and social obligations can find the time to be so very well read. Rick can speak intelligently about almost any subject under the sun.

And so it began. Our first job was for Nike (through Wieden + Kennedy). Our second, Volkswagen (through Arnold Worldwide). Not too shabby for a start-up working out of Benjamin’s apartment. Ever since then, its been success after success. We received a ton of press, a ton of awards, and never had to go searching for clients.

And as we grew, those memories of art school and outside interests began to feature more heavily during my day dreams. I was becoming less and less interested in the work I was helping to create for clients. A pivotal moment came in 2006 when The Barbarian Group was asked to work on an installation projection for NextFest (with Goodby Silverstein & Partners for their client, Saturn). To date, this has been the most rewarding work experience I have been a part of. Sure, the deadline was short and the pay wasn’t exactly commensurate, but the final piece was exceptional.

I was hooked. This is what I want to do. I want to work on installation projects that require human interaction and feature millions of tri-color LEDS and proximity sensors and mirrors and robots… yeah! Then the reality of the situation started to sink in. Those jobs go to either 1) companies like UVA or rAndom international or Second Story who have a ton of experience in this field (which The Barbarian Group has been trying to become, but it’s hard to expand your capabilities in a down economy), or to 2) freelance specialists who can help out the previously mentioned companies.

And this brings me to my decision to leave The Barbarian Group. Over the last couple years, we have received numerous requests to work on installation oriented projects. Sadly, these clients were not interested in hiring a whole company. Rick Webb phrased the problem very eloquently:

The work that Robert does holds vast potential. And we’ve spent a lot of time and effort trying to sell it and turn it into some profitable work. We’ve had some success through the years, but it’s also been a frustrating process. The clients that want what Robert offers often want just that – Robert. And many of these clients are agencies that aren’t super psyched to hire the whole of The Barbarian Group. Many other of these potential clients are arts collectives, experimental endeavors, collaboration and low-budget, high art affairs that Robert would love to pursue, but often is unable to, due to the fact that he is working to contribute to the company as a whole, and these people cannot afford The Barbarian Group.

So what now? That is an exciting question. The amount of interest I have gotten in the two weeks since my departure has been quite heartening. However, I won’t be leaping right into freelance projects. I have a couple gallery pieces that I will be working on to be elaborated upon in my next post. Also, Bill Lindmeier and I are putting the finishing touches on an iPhone app that we hope to submit in the next two weeks.

In the end, I am extremely grateful to all the Barbarians for their support and friendship over the years. Especially the Barbarian partners who graciously extended me the freedom to pursue less traditional (and often less profitable) work. I cannot imagine a better way to have spent the last seven years of my professional life. Thank you.

It almost feels like I am a teenager again about to leave home to attend RISD. Im nervous, anxious, and extremely hopeful. Lets just hope there are fewer bandsaws out there.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.