Artwork Description
Walter Robinson – Forest
Dimensions: 80 x 60 x 1″
Year: 2008
Media: MDF, epoxy, metal flake
This work is a prime example of Robinson’s artistic practice as a socio-cultural anthropologist. Using text and strategies of appropriation, conflation, and dislocation, he uncovers subconscious human imperatives hidden beneath social, political, religious, and capitalist packaging. Robinson’s work is a partial response to his upbringing in a household where he could never quite tell what the reality was. His father was a Cold War-era cryptographer in California, and Robinson’s childhood was filled simultaneously with sunny skies, beaches, and fear of annihilation through international conflict. Likewise, Robinson uses sparkling metal flake and brilliant epoxy resin colors over sweet childhood objects to spark the feeling of happiness. The underlying message of the work is revealed through words or metaphors once the viewer is drawn in by the candy-coated object.
Walter Robinson’s works have been featured in numerous museum exhibitions and are held in choice museum collections. Among these museums are the Crocker Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; San Jose Museum of Art; Sheldon Museum of Art; Chaney Family Collection; DiRosa Preserve; Nevada Museum of Art; Djerassi Foundation; New Mexico Museum of Art; Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe.
Walter Robinson’s work investigates the mechanics of cultural and social anthropology. Using text and the strategies of appropriation, conflation, and dislocation, he uncovers the subconscious and human biological imperatives hidden beneath social, political, religious, and capitalist packaging.