arts

New Light Prize Exhibition - Ian Robinson

Not all Art has to be relevant and deal with the burning issues of the day. There is also, surely, a role for tranquillity or reflection or even for sheer delight in colour and line.

For most people this will come in the form of landscape or still life. Such work just invites us to look, perhaps aided by a more discerning eye, that helps us to see the extraordinary in the everyday.

Favourites by Ian Robinson

Ian Robinson’s two pictures in the New Light exhibition (most exhibitors get only one) are, basically, in the form of the still life. But it is the quality and wit of the painting that arrests the visitor.

New Light is an organisation that exists in order to ‘celebrate and promote Northern art by supporting both well-known and emerging artists’ (introduction to the Scarborough Art Gallery catalogue). The Prize Exhibition runs once every two years and offers substantial awards, both in cash and prestige, to five of the exhibitors. In addition, public bodies and charities may borrow works of art from New Light at no cost.

Favourites depicts a stack of vinyl records. Since we can not see the artists’ names, we can play the guessing game, based on colours used on the covers, of who these ‘favourites’ might be. We ask ourselves, if it was my choice, who would be in the stack? We are then motivated to reflect on the history of vinyl as CDs became the dominant format, then downloading, and back again to those of us who have a preference for the scratchiness of vinyl and having something physical to hold and look at while listening to music.

For those of us of a certain age, there is a minor personal history here.

Ian Robinson

Equally precise, but more enigmatic is Remix, a photo realist representation of a set of folders and files standing vertically on a shelf. Such is the physical presence of the painting that I have observed visitors to the exhibition standing to the extreme left of the picture and looking along its surface to check that it is indeed two dimensional. Standing in front of the picture, it looks more sculptural than oil on canvas.

Ian Robinson originates from Newbiggin-by-the Sea in North East England. He spent an early working life in the offshore oil and gas industry before eventually studying art in London, where currently lives. His early work was simply sketches in biro, though the autodidact in him motivated a switch to oils.

Remix and Favourites are typical of his subject matter and style. He is fascinated by collections, particularly books and records. He is interested, too, in the collecting habits of other artists.

Where he lives in London is close to the Horniman Museum which I remember particularly for its musical instruments collection. London, of course, with so many museums and famous libraries, offers considerable scope to someone with Robinson’s predilections.

If you would like to find out more about Ian Robinson’s work, he has an exhibition of his work in the Maritime Centre in his home town of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea from November 30th 2020 to April 30th 2021.