“Fresh colour, an exacting sense of design, technical skill and an inventive and restless mind... an exquisitely rendered body of work and a rare pleasure to experience.” Dr Janet McKenzie, Studio International October 2012.
"ROBB is also interested in religious iconography and artefacts, casting a curious eye initially in Europe and South America and more recently ,India. The removal of context and recreation through painting and drawing, heightens any ambiguity in his subject. This heightening of artistic distance, the opposite of expressionism, allows religiosity and kitsch, pathos and humour, spirituality and crudity to coexist in a world that the artist makes deliberately resistant to direct interpretation." Guy Peploe 2017 The Scottish Gallery Edinburgh.
Alan Robb (b. 24th February 1946, Glasgow) is a Scottish painter. He relies on reference material, he works from found objects and makes models. Robb has amassed countless images from various sources which later helps him compose his paintings. Reviewing the resulting body of work, it seems like a circular journey, based on intuitive choices and a growing understanding of what an artist can do. The motivation and momentum comes from a myriad of minor nuances which give each work its resolved identity.
KEY PUBLICATIONS, CURATIONS AND LECTURES
A Painted World. ISBN 0-900344-62-8, 2012.
In the Minds Eye. ISBN 1 899837 08 62005, I996.
The House of Miracles. ISBN 1 899837 485.
ART in CONTEXT Conference Birmingham,1990.
Public Art the Educational Dimension, invited speaker.
2002 NAFE conference Tate Britain /Clore Theatre Achieving a Balance– a paper on the relationship between Teaching and Research in our Art Colleges and the Arts and Humanities Research Board, main speaker.
KEY EXHIBITIONS AND COMMISSIONS
2017. First The Scottish Gallery Edinburgh with Robb , Howard , Cocker .
2014 Alan Robb The Open Eye Gallery Edinburgh, solo exhibition.
2012 A Painted World, McManus Galleries Dundee, a retrospective.
2006 Ayermanyana? Yestermorrow, Fondacion Antonio Saura, Cuenca, Spain, invited artist.
2005 House of Miracles, East West Gallery, London, solo exhibition.
1999 Invention ,Illusion and Reality, East West Gallery, London, solo exhibition.
1998 I Live Now, Academy Gallerie Utrecht, Centre Space DCA with Ian Howard and Derrick Guild.
1997/9 True Knowledge, East West Gallery, solo exhibition.
1996 Seagate Gallery – Artspace, Peacock, Aberdeen, solo exhibition.
1996 Bruton St. Gallery, London, with William Crozier.
1994 5 Scottish Artists, Centre D’Art en L’Isle, Geneva.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
McManus Galleries & Museums Dundee Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork Arts Council of Ireland Arts Council of Northern Ireland Arts in Fife Grays School of Art, Aberdeen University of Dundee Hunterian, Glasgow University Royal College of Art, London Annie Hughhill Trust, The Royal Academy, London HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Montgomery Securities, New York Fleming Wyfold Foundation, London
Also in private collections in the UK, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany and US
