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Recently I caught up with Michael Silverman, one of the many artists in our creative burg. He writes, “My wife and I are both artists in Somerville in that we try to draw something every day at a coffee place. Over the last 6 years or so we have a stockpile of thousands of drawings. The whole thesis we have is to have fun with it.”

Doug Holder: How is it being an artist in Somerville?

Michael Silverman: It’s a treat. Love the atmosphere and the city is beautiful. Also, it’s nice to be able to walk everywhere or take the T. We don’t have a car and don’t have to worry about parking/gas prices etc. Walking the bike path or down to Harvard and so on is a nice way to relax.

I haven’t cracked into the artistic community here that much as I’m not too social and tend to get hung up on minutiae that distracts from more meaningful discussion at the meetings. We did a few of the Sommer Streets festivals but I think maybe our art wasn’t the best fit for that kind of event. Mostly we just sold some pins and stickers.

I’m now thinking of that scene in Star Wars where the death star designer says “It’s a peaceful life.” lol.

DH: You say the most important thing in creating is to have fun. Can having fun with your work, instead of wrestling with your work or struggling with it. Can it bring serious work?

MS: We all know the horrible artist who was obsessed with “My Struggle!” I did some political game stuff a while back that was fun to make and also a bit more … I wouldn’t say serious, but perhaps a bit more socially topical? It’s not my favorite project looking back.

My “fun” approach isn’t for everyone … or even the path to making the “best” art. The serious stuff is something I don’t know how to tackle rather than something bad to make. Obsessing over somber and dark work and focusing on making that your life …  I’m not sure I could stay sane. Or, to make a serious piece that deals with heavy feelings, do you just fake it? Does art reflect the feelings of the artist, or change them? Emotions are challenging for me, I’m not so sure I could look at the whole spectrum of human emotion in the mirror without a lot of support and hand holding and it feels like I already need a lot of support just to make my goofy wacky fun stuff.

So the direct answer is: I don’t know. I would love to crack it … Serious fun!

The reason I make art is that feeling of freedom: it can be anything, there aren’t any rules (despite what people may argue), so I can just pour my soul onto the page and it’s thrilling to get my heart and mind out there. So maybe my art belongs hung on the refrigerator with the kid’s stuff? I wouldn’t be offended at that!

DH: What was the germ of the idea to pair coffee with your art?

MS: So I would go get coffee every day, people watch, sit there and do basically nothing while I got breakfast or whatever. Also I had some of those adult coloring books where I was deliberately not coloring in the lines and making my own pattern on top of the mandala that was there. It was kind of serendipitous to just combine the two, so I went to that “Blick” art store down near Central and bought a bunch of sharpies and a sketchbook and the “Coffee Doodle” was born.

Actually, I consider the coffee shop patrons my collaborators. Sometimes the antics of people getting a coffee or making some noises or having a conversation will change the direction I move in my drawing. There is a stream of consciousness element to the drawings, and having a bit of a kinetic element changes the work.

DH: What coffee shop do you frequent to work on your art?

MS: We have three major places that are near Davis Square, the Starbucks there, Diesel (I actually bought one of their T-Shirts) and the Bagel Place down by Rosebud, which makes a lox and bagel sandwich that competes with the real thing in NYC. The choice of place depends on the crowds, mood, and how hungry I am!

DH: From looking at your work it seems to be mostly colorful abstract paintings. Do you work in other genres?

MS: Sometimes I will do a black and white piece when I am in a more serious mood. Those can be tougher days. As I was saying, when the art gets serious, so does my whole life, and then I start to get a bit down. I also sometimes do more representational stuff, or try to draw a cartoon. I would say about 90% of the drawings are abstract stuff. Actually, some of my abstracts have been deemed “too representational” for some of the true Abstract aficionados.

DH: What artists influence your work?

MS: Obviously Picasso is the big guy, can’t go wrong with him. I love cubism, though I wouldn’t say I really am capable of doing it properly. Andy Warhol’s sarcastic post-modern “I want to make fun of the entire art world and make a ton of bank doing it” is admirable and cool. I think Paul Klee said something about wanting to be able to paint like a kid, which I have mastered, lol. I also like Mondrian, just because he is famously a boring person but his art is so impactful.

I also listen to a lot of pop music when I work that has a big impact on the mood of the pieces. I have a playlist of over a thousand songs and they all had their part in my work, lots of 60s, 70s, and 80s hits in there. Occasionally I will literally write down the song lyrics on the canvas, but only rarely.

DH: Are you formally trained as an artist?

MS: I went to an MFA program out in LA and dropped out. So … No. To me, the more formal art stuff goes into a miserable Game of Thrones style, “who will get to show their art to the world?” This is a crazy thing that I cannot stand and can even be traumatic to deal with. I don’t consider my lack of formality to be something good: I would love to make my work more professional. But sometimes if you polish a gem too much you end up ruining the stone.

In my high school days I was called “outstanding” and to be clear my school considered that a bad thing. I’m somewhat inconsistent, and sometimes really basic stuff I mess up, vs sometimes extremely complex things I just do easily.

I’m told my art is “Outsider Art” which is either art made by people without formal training, or the art of insane people. Pretty much the same thing, lol.

DH: Why should we view your work?

MS: When I say my art is about fun, I mean both for the artist and the audience. I’m trying to make the whole loop fun for all parties. For my work, I’ve tried to focus on the desert instead of the veggies, and I’m hoping that’s also what it feels like when people view the stuff. Even if you want to goof on my stuff or critique it, just have fun with that too!

For more info go to: https://coffeedoodle.art.