ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2000 U.S. Open BilliardsTournement, Roseland, NYC 1999 The Friars Club, NYC 1998 Neuberger Museum of Art, New York, NY 1997 Revelation Fine Art/New World Art Center, New York, NY 1995 John McEnroe Gallery, New York, NY 1991 Exhibition Space, New York, NY 1985 Steven Adams Gallery, New York, NY 1980 United States Federal Courthouse, New York, NY SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2000 Museum of the City of New York, NYC 1999 The New York Athletic Club, NYC 1998 The Armoy Works on Paper, NYC Museum of the City of New York, NY 1997 Revelation Fine Art, New York, NY 1996 John McEnroe Gallery, New York, NY ACA Galleries, New York, NY 1995 John McEnroe Gallery, New York, NY 1991 Science Fiction Art Show, Tarrytown, NY 1990 Science Fiction Art Show, Philadelphia, PA 1989 Mural on Lite Elite, Broome & Bowery, New York, NY 1988 La Mama/La Galleria, New York, NY 1986 Michael Todd Room, New York, NY Steven Adams Gallery, New York, NY Now Gallery, New York, NY 1985 Steven Adams Gallery, New York, NY Now Gallery, New York, NY 1984 Nico Smith Gallery, New York, NY 1983 Mural on West Broadway, New York, NY 1981 Public Image Gallery, New York, NY 1979 United States Court House, New York, NY 1975 Tim Blackburn Gallery, New York, NY PUBLICATIONS/TELEVISION 1998 ARTnews The International Economy 1996 Peace, Love & Harmony Cable TV 1995 ZDF-TV German Television 1994 Channel 5 Fox TV News Soundtruth - Cable TV Channel 9 WWOR News 1985 East Village Art 1981 New York Post 1980 Eyewitness News 1980 Vogue Magazine EDUCATION 1969-71 William Allen High School, Allentown, PA Top student of James P. Musselman 1971 Syracuse University, NY Painting, Sculpture & Drawing 1971-73 Pratt Institute, NY 1973-4 Independent Study with Sculptor Takashi Nakazawa 1974-5 Brooklyn Academy of Music Jazz Percussion 1977 Cabinet & Furniture Making apprenticeship under Don Boyce, Soho 1978 Cabinet & Furniture Making apprenticeship under Roger Scorcio 1976-85 Seido Karate under Master Tadashi Nakamura Attained Black Belt 1989-97 Artists For Israel Institute, NYC Studied Theology and Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) in original Hebrew and Greek. WRITINGS Discovering the Nature of Existence Through Art by Arthur Robins: Discovering The Nature Of Existence Through Art by Arthur Robins My art is simultaneously personal, political, art historical, universal and religious. It is personal in that all my images are developed through a very personal vision. They are created to depict my own personal vision, for my own growth, and my own understanding of whatever it is I am trying to understand or study. It is political in the sense that any individual proclaiming his own ideas is political in and of itself; and it is political in that much of my work is critical of many other pre-existing ideas, and extends itself (in my view) as an equal or superior idea. It is art historical because it addresses all real art that came before it, from cave painters to the present. I exclude no actual idea presented from the past, but instead include them, resynthesize them into a new and more "complete" version while attepting to push it into a new language. My work is universal in the sense that my language is universal. All people from all lands and times can interpret my images. My art transcends this culture and this century even though it addresses it and includes it or criticizes it. I believe all art should be a universal language accessible to all people everywhere. My work is religious, not in terms of "religion" and not iconoclastic, but in a truly personal relationship between me and the Creator. All art, in order for it to attain any innate value, must be created with the Creator. Any attempt to exclude His participation in the process will result in emptiness and failure. Every stroke, every idea, every approach that includes the Creator's input, will be successful, inasmuch as an artist allows Him to participate. An artist can tap into the Creator's vast eternal creative power subconsciously or unconsciously. But during and after 1984, my conscious effort to do this resulted in art that I was continually able to learn from even years after its creation. Technically, I have hundreds (if not thousands) of "approches" to my work. Just as the Creator approaches His "canvas" with new ideas each time, an artist who taps into this source will naturally try to do the same. Over the years, I have discovered that, in a creative process that is in harmony and participation with the Creator, there are certain rules and laws. The rules can (and often should be) broken. But the laws must be kept. The laws may be bent but never broken. All laws are created by the Creator and are perfect. Alll rules are created by man and are flawed. Finally, my art is not merely about how I "feel" or my "mood" or my own "opinion". It is not transient or temporal or cultural. It is not stylized or iconic or superficial. All my work is an attempt to study how the Creator creates things, by allowing Him to show me, through His direct participation in the process. When successful, this is the highest state of joy. Through this process, I discover what I think, how I feel about what I think, and how He feels about what I think. I believe that through this process an artist can learn about the very nature of existence itself. Arthur Robins How I Found God by Arthur Robins: I was born into a beautiful Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, 1953. My father was a research chemist and my mother a writer. As a child, I was always inquisitive about everything, and asked all the impossible questions. My parents, I soon realized, did not have all the answers. My childhood was spent focusing on my two passions: Fine Art and Zoology. My six years in Hebrew school insisted that God existed, yet no provision to contact him was there. Growing up in the 60's was a wonderful turbulent time. So many negative things have been said about that era, but I recall so much good. Many were searching for Truth, Love, and God; and though some found it, my search continued. The spiritual quest of the 60's gave way to the 70's, when cults became very big. I was seduced by two of them. Cults offered people what the churches and synogogues seemed to lack: continuous love and acceptance rather than judgement. People believe that cults prey on the weak and gullible. But actually the opposite is true. Only a dedicated and intelligent person enters a cult, since only such a person is looking for God. By the mid 70's my search led me to Martial Arts, where, at least I found an outlet for my frustrations. My master, a very bright and spiritual person, was a God-like figure in our midst. And if I couldn't find God, at least, this seemed like a viable alternative. In 1984, while painting, I suddenly realized the hopelessness of it all. I remember weeping on the floor of my studio, crying out to a God I did not know. Just then, a revelation came to me. I decided to demand God show himself to me, right then and there. I figured, if God exists, he could paint a painting through me with my eyes closed. To my amazement, He painted a man's face who appeared to be laughing, crying, dreaming, singing, sleeping and talking, all at the same time. It was then that I knew for sure there was a God. But how do I communicate with Him? Where do I go from here? A wild preacher appeared on my TV screen to aid in my search; Dr. Eugene Scott. He got me interested in the Bible and showed me amazing things. On Easter Sunday, 1984, He showed me how to prove that Jesus was who He said He was. I remember taking notes and dropping my pen, the moment I believed. I went to bed that night thinking "Wow - I believe Jesus is who He said he was," and getting up in the morning proclaiming "Incredible, Jesus is who he said he was... I believe in Jesus!!!" I realized what Jesus meant when he said, "No-one comes to the Father except by me," John 14:6 After I discovered that Jesus was the way to the Father, and my sins were forgiven, and the Bible was true, and God existed, all things came into place, and my art and life finally had a deep meaning and purpose. I had found peace, because I had found God. Sincerely, Arthur Robins REVIEWS Revelations by Judy Collischan, Ph.D is the text from the gallery brochure for the summer 1998 show at the Neuberger Museum of Art: 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. ARTnews by Sarah Schmerler is a review of Arthur's 1997 show at the New World Art Center: ARTnews ©1998 Sarah Schmerler This review of Arthur's 1997 show at the New World Art Center appeared in ARTnews in February 1998. Arthur Robins NEW WORLD ART CENTER The 60-some paintings in Arthur Robins's recent show were full of tenacity, a touch of psychosis, and a lot of promise. Robins's efforts reange from souvenir-style views of New York gently laced with foreboding (a couple courting on a blanket in Central Park amid strongly colored shafts of failing light) to disturbing urban-fever dreams (phantasmagoric visions of the subway, where subterranean tracks lurch into the distance and stairways melt into snake-like spirals). Robins uses warped perspectives to powerful psychological effect in these tunnel scenes and in a series of images he made of all-night billiard halls. In one, a shiny black eight ball dwarfs the surrounding players; in another, a corner pocket looms in the foreground like a yawning abyss. The artist paints confidently, as though determined to get his thoughts out quickly in a kind of colorful automatic writing. |
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