Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
The Gathering |
Artist |
Singleton, Robert |
Medium |
oil on canvas |
Date |
2012-2017 |
Description |
Robert Singleton was born December of 1937, Jacksonville, North Carolina. He grew up in Williamsburg, Virginia where he attended the College of William and Mary followed by The Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond where he enrolled in the school of art. There he majored in fine art and studied under Teresa Pollack a student of abstract expressionist, Hans Hofmann. Aside from this formal background, Robert considers himself primarily self-taught. There followed many years of living in various parts of the United States and England. When possible he found employment associated with the arts, such as museum exhibit design, department store window design and most importantly, teaching art. He finally settled near Orlando, Florida where he joined the teaching staff of the Orlando Museum of Fine Art. He purchased a small cottage in the country where he added a studio. It is from this foundation that Robert's art career escalated to a prominent figure in the art community's throughout the south. After ten years in Florida, he moved to the Smoky Mountains as a full time artist represented by Vorpal Gallery in New York City, San Francisco and Laguna Beach, California. Lastly, in 1978 he moved to a remote mountain top in West Virginia where he designed and built his home and studio in order to focus exclusively on his creativity. Nonetheless, his life's journey took him away from his art. His focus in life became far removed from creating art. For nearly two decades he did not paint. Artist statement: The who and why has become far more important than the what. I can honestly say . . . at this point in my 81 years, the drive for artistic recognition has withered. As I have matured, I have come to understand that perhaps recognition of self by self is the substance of actuality and authenticity. Recently I was in the process of updating my résumé when it occurred to me that a résumé is as impersonal as the paper it is written on; more than sixty years of dates and events. These events, however, are the results of dreams, desires, and passions which in reality is a more accurate portrait of whom this person is. On this journey through life as we become older and more accepting of our selves. The need to prove or validate our existence through other people is no longer consequential. Throughout my life I have been seeking expression through the visual arts. In the 60's and 70's the work was rooted in Hans Hofmann's abstract expressionist imagery, I was working with stark geometric shapes contrasted agents spontaneous organic brush work. Organic and geometric elements placed in juxtaposition in a work can be compared with achieving balance between emotions and intellect - as a result they enhance each other. In recent years the dedication of my work has been to the joy and poetry of light. People say that I just paint clouds studies. No, the cloud shapes are purely an abstract, ever-changing vessel for me to transport light and shared astonishment and hopefulness that come from within. The many stories connecting these images are about creativity and where it comes from. But it is really about the creator, the author of metaphors; the biographer of illusions. It is more about life, and the influence of life's connected events, that result in the measured evolution of the creative act. They give us the means of uncovering the core of our collective evolutionary message; our intuitive understanding and cumulative experience ingrained and transmitted through generations since the dawn of time . . . . . . Creativity is the search for our shared universal awareness. I recognize that all art must stand on its own merits. The life of its creator is incidental in the long run. In time my memory may fail me. In time memory of me. But, the art will never forget. |
Collection |
Permanent Collection |
Dimensions |
H-68 W-58 inches |
Credit line |
2019 Collectors Club Purchase WV Invitational Exhibit |