Artist : John Robinson
Title : Hermit with Flowers
Medium : oil on canvas
Dimensions : 150 x 120 cm | 59 x 47 in



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John Robinson’s technical prowess could be seen to be shared with the great pantheon of masters of the 17th and 18th centuries including artists such as Diego Velazquez and Francisco Goya with a developing unguarded focus on self portraiture adopted by the likes of Rembrandt Van Rijn or more recently Frida Kahlo. However Robinson's figurative works offer a contemporary subversion of the rich tradition of self portraiture. Somber protagonists dominate the canvas, usually presented in theatrical situations which barely mask a more prosaic 'kitchen sink’ vulnerability. They are often, simultaneously absurdly comic and psychologically revealing. Robinson's process often involves private performance, where his actions are then exquisitely rendered, in oil on canvas. For Robinson these paintings embrace personal concern, disclosure and catharsis, for the voyeur the experience appears both elaborately grandiose and awkwardly revealing.

John Robinson was born in Worcester, UK in 1981 where he still resides. He studied Fine Art at Falmouth College of Arts (awarded First class honours) spending most of the time whilst there skipping tutorials to travel to Plymouth to be taught by the notorious and idiosyncratic painter Robert Lenkiewicz, who ignited an interest in how to evoke colour through grey alongside wider interest in occult literature and artwork experienced in Lenkiewicz’s famed private library. Robinson was awarded the Richard Ford Scholarship by the Royal Academy of Arts and spent a summer as artist in residence at the Prado Museum Madrid absorbing the works of Velazquez and Goya alongside the city’s nightlife. He stayed in Madrid for a further decade broken by a year at Central Saint Martins on a Masters degree in fine art. In London he developed his use of ‘the painting’ as a disguise; ‘self portrait as (other…)’. Robinson has exhibited internationally. He has won the Peter Spicer Award for Excellence in Creative Arts (First Place), Richard Ford Award for Painting, Royal Academy, London (First Place), South Square Trust Scholarship for MA study at Byam Shaw school of Art, Central Saint Martins, London, Alfa Romeo Award Art (‘Best of show nominee’) Madrid, Spain, Premio de Pintura Focus-Abengoa, Seville, Spain (Winner) and the Hauser and Wirth Prize, Hauser and Wirth Somerset UK, (First Prize). Works are held in notable collections including University of the Arts London permanent collection, London, UK, Nicolas & Maxinne Leslau collection, London, UK, Focus-Abengoa Foundation, Seville, Spain, Coldwell Banker, Madrid, Spain, Falmouth College of Arts Library, Falmouth UK, Museo del Ferrocarril, Madrid, Spain, Stedlijk Museum Amsterdam Netherlands, Wellcome Collection London UK, British Council Collection UK.


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