The artists of the Robbin Gallery are listed alphabetically below.
You can also search by name or medium on the right hand side of this page.
Photography
Intimate Pixels - The use of abstraction enables me to engage color, texture and shape to create a pixelated form. Hidden in most digital images, I use the pixel to tell the story. Its presence is essential to define the visual field - transition from one color to another, the shape and movement within the image. The pixel informs the viewer and at the same time hides the within the image. It is a result of thousands of on/off computer contortions.
I was in a show, Color Clarity, at the ArtReach gallery in Stillwater for the month of March 2018 and several pieces are in a juried show, Biomimicry, in St. Charles, IL in May.
In a visual and digital world I am challenged to paint with the computer.
PRESS RELEASE: Provided by Robbin Gallery 4/20/2007 I am an “emerging, artist” somewhat recently returned to my life-long interest in the creative process. I began dabbling in computer generated art in 2009 and upon retirement in 2011 have since undertaken more serious study. I studied visual communications and photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago. The advent of digital cameras and computer editing enabled me to combine both original disciplines. In a visually driven, digital world it made sense to “paint with a mouse”. I would describe my work as abstract spaces and places. Using the pixel, most often hidden in a digital image, I engage the flow of one color to the next, develop texture, and with the juxtaposition of positive and negative space to create a visually stimulating experience. Whether horizons or landscapes, interpreted by the human eye and driven by memory or imagination, you can get lost in the image. Is it a monolith, a sacred place, dangerous or inviting place? What’s over the horizon? If you scraped away the buildings, roads and other manmade objects is the land energizing or foreboding? Have I been there before or do I want to be there? Colors, shapes, distortion or clarity will mean different things. The graphic remains constant, the engagement is a unique experience. I invite the viewer to explore these spaces and places with me. When I started experimenting in 2009, an image began as a drawing generated in Windows Paint – as simple a graphic tool as possible. The image was then often transferred to a digital edition program and further manipulated. Over the past 4-5 years, I started using digital photographs. Ignoring the actual picture and looking at it as if a color pallet. I manipulate the pixels, stretching and reshaping them beyond recognition. The result is an image from my series – Horizons or Landscapes. Some day we may have to tell stories of butterflies, bees and fireflies to our children and grandchildren. How does one explain the wonder of a butterfly fluttering in the breeze, flitting from flower to flower. My Butterflies attempt to capture this experience – the shape, texture and movement without the textbook description. While maintaining the basic form my butterflies may reflect the influence of Paul Klee’s child-like spaces, the amusement of an Alexander Calder or the vivid O’Keefe pallet. The fanciful insects are there to delight the senses. I additionally, assign each a unique scientific name to reflect its true nature.
Photography Painting
Seeing and photographing interesting and beautiful things in nature and everyday surroundings often suggests a story and a painting title which brings inspiration to start another painting. The sources of many of my paintings come from scenes near our cabin on Fish Trap Lake, Cushing, MN. I hope that you enjoy my depiction of nature’s creations as much as I enjoy painting them.
Bob was born with severe Hemophilia Type A and has experienced numerous life threatening and crippling challenges. In 2005 he was honored by the MN/Dakota Hemophilia Chapter with the Lifetime Achievement award. Bob painted his first oil painting at fourteen when his Aunt sent him some brushes and oil paint while confined to bed with a lingering illness. Before graduating from high school, he was well known by his classmates for his colored pencil drawings. Deciding to attend art school, he started his own sign and showcard painting business for tuition and art supplies, often trading showcards for food at a hamburger shop near the art school.
Bob attended Minneapolis School of Art (now Minneapolis Collage of Art and Design) and Gene Hundredmark Graphic Arts School before entering the commercial art field in 1951. After a few months of working for advertising agencies, he started doing technical illustration for a farm machinery manufacturer. In 1961, he and a copywriter founded Manual-matic Company and operated it as owner and President for 43 years. Most of his work was black and white exploded view line drawings. During those years, he occasionally painted watercolor landscapes. In 2004, Bob finally shut down his illustration business and followed the urge to oil paint landscapes, still life, portraits (adults, children and pets) and florals.
Pricing
Price for framed oil paintings are based on size and complexity but most are in the $195.00 to $900.00 range. I prefer working with the subject on portrait commissions or if photos are the only thing available they should be several views from different angles (no flash). All commissions require 50% down before starting.
Affiliations:
Associate member of Oil Painters of America
Active member of Great River Arts Assn., Little Falls, MN
Sustaining member and Treasurer of Hennepin Artists of Robbin Gallery, Robbinsdale, MN
Member of the Northwestern Suburbs Art Crawl, Maple Grove, MN
Contact
Personal: (612) 860-9931 Home: (763) 537-5124
Website: www.BobNewman-Paint.com http://bob-newman.artistwebsites.com/
Oil I am a member of the Brush Pilots watercolor group. We exhibited at the Gallery in June 2016. I enjoy painting urban landscapes and like to represent my subjects in an unexpected way.
I have had several group and one-person shows over the years.
Watercolor