An exhibition celebrating the work of artist Robert Collins opens at Tetbury Goods Shed in January.
Robert (1952-2024) was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Gloucestershire College of Art and the Royal College of Art in Kensington. He was a versatile painter who worked mostly in oil and expressed himself with equal conviction in landscape, still life and sometimes portrait, interiors and architectural subjects.
All these become vehicles for the expression of light, space and atmosphere but despite their realism they all have an essential underlying abstract structure with finely balanced judgements of colour, shape and composition.
The exhibition runs from Wednesday, January 7th to Sunday, March 8th and is open each Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 4pm, free admission.
A private view will be held on Wednesday, January 21st from 6 – 7.30pm and will feature a Q&A with some of Robert’s closest friends, colleagues and students. Open to all. The exhibition will present a select set of works from a lifetime of creativity and craftsmanship spanning 60+ years exploring light, colour, tone, perspective and texture. A variety of styles and mediums will be on display.
From 1984 Robert was represented by The Francis Kyle Gallery, London, where he had numerous one-man-shows and contributed to 17 group shows. In 1981 Robert was a founder member of Red Herring Studios in Brighton, a group studio set up and run by 27 artists and craftspeople.
In 1989 he moved back to Gloucestershire where he lived and worked. In 2003 he helped set up Under the Edge Arts, a thriving community arts project in Wotton-under-Edge. He taught four painting groups as well as art history.
In August 2009 Robert spent an hour on the ‘Fourth Plinth’ as part of Antony Gormley’s ‘One and Other’ project. He used his hour to paint the view across Trafalgar Square. He was a devoted countryman with a love of nature and was always interested in the process of seeing and of recording what he sees in paint. www.robcollinsart.com
