Richard Flynn: 'Running Down the Road of Life with Shoelaces Untied'

You might know him as "the Hammer" or maybe, more recently, "the Wrench."

Perhaps you don't know him by one of his monikers, but maybe you've seen his work or spotted him in a local coffee shop. You might recognize him as that guy you've seen who can create entire worlds in a Moleskine notebook with a Sharpie. Or, maybe you know him as the friendly downtown regular with a propensity to keep miniature rubber chickens in his pocket and hand them out to friends.

This is Salem-based artist Richard Flynn.

"I'm just running down the road of life with my shoelaces untied like everyone else," he says. "I'm just trying to make sense of the world, and I'm trying not to slip on those banana peels along the way. That's so cheesy...Cheez Whizzy," he says.

"Cheez Whizzy" or not, Rich Flynn dances to the beat of his owner drummer (we're sure he has a much better uncliched cliche to describe his way of being, but we'll leave that up to him).

You'll have a chance to catch Rich and his work this month at the , where his works will be shown together with his friend, artist Greg Orfanos.

An official opening is scheduled for July 14 at 7 p.m., but Rich and Greg will be hanging their work beginning tomorrow (Sunday, July 3).

Rich and Greg do completely different work, but it works, Rich says, because "we're two weird minds. We're two kindred spirits. Greg's on his own planet; I'm on my own little planet, but we're both in the same solar system of goofiness."

Lately, Rich said he's been taking his work "a little more seriously," and he's interested in doing more shows, but he wants to keep an intimate feel when he shares his work.

Part of Rich's exploration and development of his work involves working alongside others — creations from Rich's friends make appearances in his Moleskine palettes (which came out during our interview) and these moments of sharing art are paramount to his own artistic process.

"It's a language," Rich said of art. "It really goes back to primitive man drawing in a cave. It's like dance or music."

Rich said he hopes to be like a big "vortexual" sponge, adding that he very much enjoys the support of the community.

"People have been so wonderful to me," he explains.

Beyond people and collaboration, working with a variety of material is the spice of Rich's work.

Those who come to his show will see work in different forms, and though the sleek mark of the Sharpie will most likely make an appearance, ripped up receipts, crayons, glitter and old ticket stubs will probably make their own debuts too.

"As an artist you've got to be [open to variety]," Rich said. "You've got to use every crayon in the box. In music and dance, you can't just do the ChaCha all the time, you've got to do the Tango or the Funky Monkey."