Artwork Description
Walter Robinson – Volatile Compounds
Dimensions: 35 x 59 x 2″ finished size
Year: 2020
Medium: wood, epoxy, metalflake
These loaded compound words, depicted here as familiar national park signage, were pulled from various stories in the media at home and abroad during the Iraq war years. They are even more relevant today in a world where selective truth, rhetorical posturing and weaponized language have become completely normal.
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 in order to spark the feeling of happiness. The underlying message of the work is revealed through words or metaphor 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.