REVELATIONS
©1998 Judy Collischan, All Rights Reserved
Conceived by associate director of cultural affairs Judy Collischan, REVELATIONS is a series of one-person exhibitions focused on distinctive work by artists from diverse cultural backgrounds who have not received widespread recognition of their abilities. REVELATIONS is funded in part by the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art and the Westchester Arts Council. Arthur Robins's work extends a tradition of expressionist painting that harkens back to individuals such as Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Rouault and Oskar Kokoshika. In terms of both form and content, he portrays a passionate response to the worls around him with agitated, broken brushwork, emphatic colors and exaggerated perspectives. The spaces of his canvases become arenas for vigorous records of paint's build up into recognizable form.
Making his home in New York City, Robins has observed and painted various manifestations of this metropolis. Distorted viewpoints, bold outlines and vigorous strokes characterize his emotional responses to subject matter such as billiard halls, parks, city streets and the many faces that inhabit them. From sketches to drawings made "on the spot," Robins transfers visual stimuli to painting via his imagination.
Expressionism in art occurs when the artist feels so deeply about and identifies with an object, situation or setting, that he or she conveys that emotional reaction. The subject becomes a structure for hanging sentiment.
Robins's depictions of pool players include an environment -- the pool parlor and its denizens. Often from overhead, he pictures the players in the act of shooting. His knowledge of this game informs the players' positions and ball formations. The two -- players and balls -- are the most prominent elements in these depictions. The distorted angles used by the artist are echoed in the angle of the pool players' shots. The geometry of the game as well as the players' concentration are translated into a painting suggesting the intensity of a moment.
Robins's park scenes are often set at dusk, a time of day that lends its own aura to a place of natural beauty and human relaxation. At twilight, the lights come on, providing the artist with an opportunity to render them as rings of illumination emanating from an electrical lamp. Especially when the atmosphere is heavy, park lights emit this sense of irradiation. Through their comparative size, Robins emphasizes trees and natural elements over people. While normally a place set aside for people to enjoy nature, Robins's park contains and dwarfs human existence.
Robins's city scenes suggest the dynamism of busy streets flanked by tall buildings and occupied by the movements of cars and people. The artist has captured the famed energy of the city, the constant flux and flow of activity in the "city that never sleeps."
The faces and heads are manifestations of characters and personalities he has encountered as he roams about with sketchbook. Immediate impressions captured in drawings inform Robins's memory of particular personages. Other visages are drawn from his imagination inspired by encounters with people.
Robins is a prolific painter. His active mind reflects his energetic visions of human beings and their environs.