TREE'S PLACE
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Carefully selected subjects, designs, and technique are evidence of Robert’s desire to create a captivating piece of fine art. As a boy, he was drawn to the work of Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, and N.C. Wyeth. Knowing these renowned painters began in illustration, encouraged him to pursue a career in painting. Therefore, in 2007, after spending twenty-eight years as an illustrator, he embarked on a career as a painter. As an artist, his focus was to capture special moments that occur in the waters along the Atlantic coastline.
Initially, he took a traditional approach to all of the painting he created. As Robert continued to work with oils, memories of “Freshman Foundation” at the Rhode Island School of Design, nearly three decades earlier, resurfaced. During that year, he completed an assignment that required the use to squares from a gridded images.
Consequently, while working on an 18 x 24 inch painting, he expanded on the gridded approach by isolating complex foreground areas of the composition. He was intrigued by the process and by the painting, which he titled Duxbury Fog. Therefore, in 2008 Robert completed his first large scale work by creating individual square paintings to form a unified image in which the squares are subtly celebrated. The 60 x 60 inch painting Tidal Remains is the first work he produced in what he refers to as his “square” series. Currently, he finds himself drawn to both methods of painting- traditional and the ‘squares” approach. While he considers his traditional style to be simplified expression of his work as an artist, in turn viewing his “square” series as a contemporary abstraction of his traditional paintings.
“As I approach each new canvas, I find myself in the same place that every painter throughout history has been. The blank, two-dimensional surface before me contains the promise of a new learning experience, and an opportunity to complete a piece of art to which viewers will be drawn.