Roberts’ work is never static - it conveys movement – in fact it tracks the physical sweeping, scraping and wrist action of an artist who imagines everything in colour. In one of his most recent paintings Fire Flares, the flying fury of embers in a fire storm are implied with the ground a deep black penetrated by brilliant red to suggest burning coals – still dangerous - with trails of smoke rising. The colour handling in this painting is beautiful and confident and retains the ambiguity that keeps painting mysterious and magical. Roberts has sought the dramatic in his pictures and has used the solidity of oil paint to push and nudge his way through, with a palette knife.
The whipped up ocean threatens a coastal headland in Storm
Approaching Seal Rocks. The edges of the knife
create the detail that sits on top of the smeared and
blended backgrounds. A crisp dark is allowed to stay to indicate a silhouetted rock formation whilst white
frothy clouds are swallowed up by a turbulent sky. Flashes of pure aqua, ochre and red remind us that this is pigment and that the action is happening under the artists hand. The exhibition is a survey of Brian Robert’s work over the past decade bringing us up to date in 2 014.
Therese Kenyon
MFA
Artist/Curator August 2014
Issue 7 - Sept / Oct
2014
38