Words & Remembrances

I discovered Robert's book, titled Rhizology, in the Fall of 2004. A copy was given to me by a man who had hired Robert as a temp draftsman at an engineering firm in the early 1970s. He found Robert such an intriguing person he had saved Rhizology, yet never spoke to him again.

Running about 50 pages, it is truly the unbelievable work of a very peculiar personality. Not an actual published work and instead a stack of stapled, xeroxed sheets, Rhizology looks to have been produced around 1971.

There are graphs, drawings, and rejection letters, but the centerpiece is a fascinating essay in three parts, from which the book got its title. I'm still not sure what, if anything, it means. However, Robert had complete faith in his abilities: the price on the front was $17 - pretty steep for a stack of copies in the early 70s.

Interestingly, the word "rhizology" has since been adopted by plant scientists, specifically meaning the scientific study of plant roots. See here.

Below are selected excerpts - click on each thumb for a different page:

Rhizology: Drawings, Rejection Letters, Ephemera

Rhizology: The Essay, Part One (7 pgs)

Rhizology: The Essay, Part Two

About the Author page

Remembrances

As part of an ongoing series (with any luck), this section will contain personal remembrances of Robert by those who had contact with him.

In the late 1970's I worked at G&H Technology on 17th street in Santa Monica. Bob was hired there as a temporary draftsman and worked for six to twelve months there. The general impression of his co-workers was that he was eccentric if not downright strange. He was always pleasant and cheerful, tended not to initiate conversations but if spoken to could bend your ear for as long as you were prepared to listen. He was medium height and slight build, close-cropped gray hair and slightly stooped at this time in his life. One of the things that I noticed about him was that he wore a long-sleeved shirt, sweater and jacket even through the summer when the drafting room got quite warm. The collar and cuffs of the shirt had shiny black rings from being worn continually. In appearance he looked only a short step from a street person but his own perception of himself was quite different. He still believed himself on the verge of being recognized for one of the many talents he felt he had in abundance. His desk had the illustrated "space" postcards and the self portrait as a centurion, which he seemed to feel was still an accurate representation of his appearance. He told us that he worked as an entertainer at children's parties and I recall hearing some tracks of a cassette tape he had brought in. The only line of the lyric I can recall is; "Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, I'm a good old boy!" He thought that was a reasonable representation of the idiom. I hope this vague recollection adds something to your knowledge of Bob. Sorry to hear he is gone.

- Kevin Molyneux

In 1974 Bob came to California Institute for the Arts, Art School office asking to do a presentation. As the Assistant to the Dean of the Art School I was assigned to assist Bob. We met and discussed his presentation and he gave me a cassette to listen to. On the way home I played the cassette which was MIND boggling! If only I knew where it was. He discussed traveling the universe with the Venusian Star-fleet Commander and other amazing things. At this same time it was reported that people were having people meet for small conferences about space travel and then disappearing? I started to think he was from another planet! Anyway I set up the presentation and advertised it to the students at California Institute for the Arts. We had a big turn out and Bob was amazing, he brought many paintings like the ones on the record cover, paintings of people from other planets, showed off his invention blueprints, and then went around the whole class and gave every person a life reading. Everyone was amazed! I was afraid we would all disappear onto another planet before he left! He gave me his record, postcards of his paintings and blueprints for inventions. He was a very talented person and I just wanted to share this with you and am happy to see someone has saved his information.

- Michael Marks