David Robinson

"When you first begin, you find only darkness, and as it were a cloud of unknowing...” -Author Unknown To search for truth, we must first lay ourselves bare to two realities: we must admit what we do not know – and that it might be unknowable. ​ This vulnerability lies at the heart of David Robinson’s art practice. “I occasionally have the good sense to remember that the work itself has better ideas than I do” he quips. But those occasions are many – his voracious appetite for different materials and processes reveals his deep reverence for the integrity of materials and curiosity as to what each new project may teach him. ​ Unexpected revelations emerge for Robinson as he works, yet these are only foreshadowing for the impact these artworks have in the broader world. ​ Art is a powerful mediator in our search for truth. It offers new vantage points from which we may observe, and then metabolize what is difficult or unresolved in our lives. While all art forms may take us on this journey, figurative sculpture, in the hands of a master, is uniquely poised to set us on this path. ​ The figures integral to David Robinson’s corpus engage the viewer’s mirror neurons – brain cells that contribute to empathy and learning. Like Whitman’s poetry Robinson’s sculpture recognizes the body as essential to every aspect of our being, and deserving of great deference and compassion. Created with deep intuition and skill, Robinson’s figures stand as potent proxies; for ourselves, for those we encounter, and for humanity as a whole. ​ In regarding these figures, standing in the void of what we do not know, our own visceral truths are revealed. And in that vulnerable space, we might notice that, like Robinson’s figures, we are already whole." - Sage MacGillivray, 2019