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| REVIEWS |
| "Painted canvas tarps pinned to walls through metal grommets, my SKINS are hunting trophies from a subconscious planet." On this 'subconscious planet' I dream the self melts away and the world is seen as it truly is. The senses merge: light is felt as waves heard, sound presents as shapes seen. To evoke this 'world', I metaphorically embody it's mythical denizens through memorial. Painted on flexible, unencumbered tarpaulin, my SKINS are the 'trophy hides' of fantasy creatures camouflaged to dwell in the miasma of day dream. Robert Patrick 2010 |
| Collage
Etudes
"Conceived of as a sound 'drawing' and presented in 'old oil painting' black, gold, browns and cream, COLLAGE ETUDES is an intimate, self portrait, video presentation of original jazz, folk, blues and classical improvisational structures performed extemporaneously on a hot July day in 2007..." Robert Patrick |
| MCAD exhibit grapples with weighty topics in fresh ways Review: Conceptually fresh and expertly crafted, these unrelated works express their separate visions with authority, skill, historical resonance and sometimes droll humor. Mary Abbe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 23, 2004 From freeway sprawl to surveillance, sex goddesses, original sin and race politics, the five artists whose recent work is featured at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design through Aug. 8 show a welcome talent for grappling with weighty topics in fresh ways.... ...Robert Patrick pulls no punches in his three paintings on plywood, each of which depicts an 8-foot-tall mask-like face with stylized African features. Reduced to thick, undulating black lines and shadows in mauve, blue-green or rose, the brooding faces exude a powerful mix of pain, anger and determination despite their clichéd designs.... Mary Abbe July, 2004 |
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Artist discovers process in journey By Dawn Aerts Robert Patrick enjoys the unpredictable aspects of art and
life. In his own way, he has explored art the way he has
approached life, with a bag of experiences that he continues to pursue in his
own way. “I really can’t ‘not’ do my
work,” he says of the journey that has taken him from his birth-place in Robert Patrick never really planned on becoming an Artist
until his senior year in high school. Mostly he was interested in football and
wrestling and playing guitar in a rock band. In the late 1960s and early 1970s
he entered art school for a couple years, dropped out, lived on an arts
commune, played in rock bands, hitchhiked all over the country and when he
hitched to ‘the end of the road’ in San Diego, joined the Army. “At that age it’s really about getting by. I
mean you’re so resilient at the age of 21, and I wasn’t attached to
anything in particular,” says Patrick of those years. “In terms of
self-discovery, there was no one telling me what I had to do each day –
so you live pretty close to the ground.” It was those kinds of
experiences that eventually led Patrick to a world of art. He says there was
always that desire to discover and express something, and then, “you have
these revelations.” While Patrick eventually returned to the Twin Cities to earn
a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts through the “Actually,” says Patrick, “my dad’s
brother’s were Jazz musicians and artists and my father was a writer, so
my family was fairly open to the idea of self discovery in both music and
art… there wasn’t any resistance to pursuing those things.” But, he says it was long-time family friend and Abstract Expressionist
painter, Herman Somberg, who caught his attention. “Herman was involved in the But it wasn’t until 1977 that Patrick began to reveal
his personal artistic bent through his tied process paintings and sculpture.
Over the next 20 years, Patrick said his post-college work evolved into an
intense physical and creative process that, in some ways, parallels his
emerging work in art. “That is the one thing I have done continuously in
life – to really look at art, to study the body of work done by other
artists.” He says his fascination in and passion for art took him to
countless art museums and cathedrals all over the “I’ve always been influenced by the ancient use
of symbols and icons, so this became a very transitional time for me as an
artist,” says Patrick. “Up to that point, I had done some small abstract
studies on canvas after I had left the tied-process sculpture behind,” he
says. His first major work in returning to painting on ‘flat’
surfaces was a walk-in ‘bunker’ built of hundreds of stacked and
bolted two by fours. Today, his work focuses on huge abstract face images that
fill the studio. “That’s where I think the faces came from …
In going back to my original marks and re-examining those symbols and
processes, these images started to emerge.” While Patrick says his work
is a bold return to ‘conventional’ painting, he is comfortable with
creating large-scale works and finding his own realm for self-expression. “What I’m doing today is true to what I’ve
been chasing after all my life,” says Patrick of his paintings. “We
tend to think we have more control in life, but there are stages in an
artist’s life – events that are so unpredictable – and there
are moments of revelation when you know it’s very much connected to who
you are. (edited for accuracy) Artist Robert Patrick is one of five
artists honored by the 2003-2004 McKnight Foundation who were selected to
receive a New Work Fellowship for their work. Several of his mural-sized
acrylic on panel paintings will be featured in a group exhibit of new work by
established artists at the |
| Catalogue essay for the MCAD McKnight Exhibition, by Andrew Knighton Robert Patrick There is good reason that representational painting has concerned itself with the face more than any other subject. Simply put: the face is incomparably expressive, and in ways that no other subject is. A face is always singular; each one is unique, individual, and intimate. But the expression of a face only becomes meaningful because it is also general -- it is legible because it partakes of a shared vocabulary of body language that is decipherable by the other. Above all, perhaps, the expression of the face is fascinating because it can tell us things that the rest of the body, concealed in its drapery and repressed in its mechanics, is rarely allowed to say. In the involuntary glitches of a face -- a blush, a twitch, a wince -- we glimpse meanings that its wearer might rather prefer to shield from publicity. No matter how hard we may try to maintain the composure of the whole, we are time and again betrayed by the infinity of localized movements that subvert its unity. Any image of a face captures a moment of this conflict between unity and autonomy, between restraint and freedom -- in this struggle, Robert Patrick's enormous paintings discover the secret of personality. His faces moreover neatly reflect the competing forces that are the motor of his method. In this series, just as in the drawings and sculptural works that preceded it, Patrick proceeds by establishing for himself a basic set of functional premises within which creative activity subsequently unfolds: size, materials, and theme are all determined at the outset. Within these unifying parameters, he then seeks the means of exploiting the maximum allowable freedom. Patrick's approach is perhaps best exemplified by his explorations in tied process sculpture. These works, from the 1980s and 90s, distill the basic premises of painting into three stages: the building of an armature, the stretching of a surface, and the application of paint. While obeying these basic protocols, Patrick nevertheless pushed them to their fullest -- stretching, weaving, and manipulating the canvas into myriad configurations on the frame. The resulting objects, though definable as paintings according to the pre-established criteria, nevertheless parade their kinship with sculpture; the unique personalities of the objects emerge only through the creative agency invested in stretching the materials and the definitions alike. In a similar fashion, Patrick's face series pursues the ways that one local element -- the simple black line that describes an eye, a nostril, a cheekbone -- can be manipulated, compressed, and extended into an organic whole. But the logical or intuitive possibilities implicit in the line must remain within carefully determined conditions established at the outset. The size and proportions of the image are dictated by the dimensions of the plywood on which it is created, and the theme is non-negotiable: the face. Within those parameters, the unpredictable course of the line and the modest application of secondary color generate the individualized identity of the whole. Reducing the painting to this compositional duel between organic line and structural outline, Patrick allows each face to stand on its own terms. Due to the severity of the close-up, no apparent narrative intervenes to distract us with superfluous concerns of time and context. But when viewed as a part of a series, his faces attain a subtly dynamic rhythm; what initially appears as a mere thematic repetition slowly discloses the qualitative differences that make each one singular. This is why Patrick's work, and painting in general, keeps returning to the face: there, in the play of forces that makes each visage, we encounter a process of envisaging. Andrew Knighton July, 2004 |
| The subject of my painting is that which is behind the real. What is reality? A thing is known because it is perceived but it is real because it is named. We name by attaching symbols to our perceptions in order to reassure each other that the conventions of our existence hold. Visual symbols, like texts, images and signs, allow us affirmation through familiar forms. Hallucinations are dreamlike encroachments on our conventional perceptions that evidence the unknowable source of all that we name and give voice to the forces of a void to which everything will succumb. My images derive from this dichotomy between symbol and hallucination. Symbolic Hallucinism By Robert Patrick c. 1999 |
| Twin Cities Reader The Institute Hosts 900 Small Works--Art by the Foot, by Judy Arginteanu At the entrance to "The Other Foot in the Door" show sits a box on a pillar. It measures one cubic foot and has a hand written label that reads "The Curator." Slapped onto the upper edge is a bow tie, the kind that might be worn by a fusty old professor who grades down for bad spelling. Yet this "curator allowed nearly 900 entries into the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. All they had to do was fit into the box.... ..."The Other Foot in the Door" explodes the idea that democracy and quality in art are incompatible.... ...Robert Patrick, who recently showed at Anderson & Anderson Gallery in downtown Minneapolis, had no qualms about the possibility that his work might be hung next to, say, a velvet Elvis. He characterizes the show as an "open dialogue," adding, "I think that's a viable reason to be in the show itself. For me, visual communication is what art's about. If the stuff's worth looking at, it should be able to hang anywhere at any time."... ...For Patrick, whose works are usually quite large, the show's scale limitations posed new challenges for him.... Judy Arginteanu March 1990 |
| Catalogue essay for "Vision and Three-Dimensional Representation" May 1-26, 1989 Coffman Memorial Union Gallery, University of Miinnesota The desire to translate existential tensions more directly when making a painting lead me to my Tied-Process. By investing in the stretching of the surface an equal partnership with painting in the creation of the image, I have separated "brush stroke" from paint. When tying, I concern myself with line and volume. While painting my surfaces, I rediscover them in color. This private language is a metaphor for flesh in motion; stress in the gut; that ache in the heart. There are no accidents in Art. Power, fear, the sublime and the ridiculous; all are exposed in the act of painting. Artists spend entire lives building edifices of knowledge and experience from which to leap into the abyss of themselves. There are a thousand reasons why Art does not happen. There are no accidental artists. Robert Patrick May, 1989 |
| ArtScape: Visual Art Time Warps, by Jim Billings 2d on 3D, Minneapolis Institute of Art, December 23, 1988 - February 5 1989 Winding past the three-dimensional paintings adorned with feathers, stones, and bones in the Minneapolis Institute of Art's pre-Columbian gallery, one finds more recent painting-sculpture combos--playful, didactic--by twenty-nine artists in 2d on 3D, sponsored by the Minnesota Artists Exhibition program.... ...In contrast, Robert Patrick's triptych Procrastes (1987) evokes a Western sense of martyrdom. In the central panel a cross is created by bound vinyl, poignant between the two wings figured with rope.... Jim Billings February, 1989 |
| The Alumni Show, At the Katherine Nash Gallery Minnesota Daily, University of Minnesota, October 14, 1988 ...As might be expected of a show involving 98 artists of different ages and interests, The Alumni Show is diverse. In terms of quality, it may be TOO diverse. From the abominable female mannequin monster chained to her gray canvas ("Fallen Angel" by D.B. McRaven, an art professor interested in the occult), to Marjorie Hennessy's superb, Gauguin-like gouache "The Four Horse-men," and on into putrid colors slathered into unlovable shapes in such paintings as ??? "Untitled"" to the vastly bright, fascinating vinyl twists and knots of Robert Patrick's "Aurora;" the good, the bad, and the bland inhabit the same close quarters.... Kim Klisch-Beaudoin October, 1988 |
| Nash Gallery ON the Mark Minnesota Daily, October 24, 1986 3" Off the Wall (More or Less)/ at Katherine E. Nash Gallery... ...While similar in format from one piece to the next, Robert Patrick's work avoids redundancy; his concept is so original and incredibly beautiful that his constructions totally command the space where they are hung. The unique compression of his assemblage within the frame reminds one of excavations of ancient burial vaults--forms crushed on top of each other, delicious colors poking through the melee revealing secrets yet never giving away the whole piece. "The Heat," "Flagship," and "Talisman" could be called high-lights, but there is such consistent resplendence and density in the works that any single one stands as an excellent example of Patrick's exceptional taste, skill, and promise.... ...Don't miss this opportunity to see why this region is fast becoming one of the nation's most carefully watched and promising artistic centers. This is work of national caliber; one would have to be an esthetic brick to miss it. Jeffery Kastner October, 1986 |
| Artviews Fan October 1986 Volume 3 #6 Constructions at Katherine Nash, by Fran Addington I was intrigued by the title of the show: 3" Off the Wall (More or Less) at Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota's West Bank Campus, Willey Hall, where there always is innovative work on display. This work, some of it more off the wall than others, certainly lived up to that reputation.... ...Robert Patrick's large, framed canvas and rope tied constructions took the brush stroke one step further into sculpture, echoing inner turmoil, the complex nature of today.... Fran Addington October, 1986 |
| Artviews Fan November 1985 Volume 2 #10 Patrick's Equations, by Sharon Zweigbaum I suppressed the urge to leap and shout on discovering Robert Patrick, an artist whose sculpted paintings are direct, exhilarating and good. Presently showing at St. Catherine's Catherine Murphy Galleries, the totally abstract works which consist of twisted, tied and pulled paint-ed fabric strips, arouse strong emotions. They illustrate how the world feels to Patrick: energetic, anxious or turbulent. The East gallery features mostly 3D, shaped pieces, and the West has large, more refined, wall hung works. "Tomb," a 9' vertical construction, is made with uniformly sized, red-toned strips tightly composed within a flat black box. An ecclesiastical tone is set by the reds shadowed in gunmetal and blue as well as the mysterious openings between the complex tangles. A more visceral interpretation could be derived from the dark red, magenta and orange-tinted surface; perhaps it is an aerial view of mangled bodies. As grisly as this sounds, a consistent harmony exists in Patrick's overall pattern. You can walk around "Harp," a four-sided assemblage of thickly woven ropes secured to the sides of the dark blue box frame by large screw eyes. A look through the rope strands reveals a star-shaped web on the interior, pulled into taut balance by arms connected to the inner sides of the box. The outside rope surfaces, firm as a chain link fence, are painted ivory, shadowed with blue and red underpaint. I especially liked the quality of the shadows cast on the floor by the webs. My favorite piece in the show is "Eden Corner, " a 6' tall, standing work, frontally oriented. It appears opposite the entrance to the East gallery like a poised butterfly. It blazes with greens reminiscent of a garden arbor in midsummer. Patrick's tied strips become denser toward center, where they begin to bulge. At this point they become enmeshed with a snake-like form, made from green painted aluminum utility tubing, which winds in and out of the openings between strips. The fertility references are subtle yet clear. The edges of the work are painted darker than the rest, which lightens and brightens towards the pregnant middle, which heaves toward us. Less innovative, but no less intriguing, is "Totem, " a standing piece about 4' high, which is wrapped with ice-blue ropes. It suggests a prehistoric monument, an icon or a trussed-up prisoner. A network of delicate threads meanders like cobwebs over it, adding a feeling that the surface has been affected by the patina of time. The large wall paintings in the West Gallery have a degree of sameness due to consistent format and scale but the collections gains power when examined one by one. To me, these works connote various natural conditions: a dried corn-field, a night rainstorm, even the process of birth, as in the wrenching movements of "Genesis." This work shows more variety of surface treatment than the others in this room; the tied and twisted strips are pulled taut to provide a mesh from which bulging knots of fabric protrude. His imaginative materials, canvas and vinyl strips, are painted red-orange, pinks and ivory, hinting at bone and flesh. While this work could be interpreted as gory, Patrick's sturdy frame, a controlling element, tempers this connotation. "Grey Diablo," in frosty blue and rust red, is composed by weaving large strips together with very little knotting. As a pale blue glints from the high parts of the relief, reds glow from beneath. Patrick's multi-layered approach lends visual interest to all his pieces, and allows them to be different from one another. The mauve, pink and peach strips in "Zorba" reminded me of the delicate order in Cretan frescoes. Patrick's work speaks of both the regularity of natural order and the wrenching realities of contemporary life. Patrick's work is also about process; his impeccable workmanship includes building a stretcher for each piece, which he has described as the "bone" to which "flesh" is added. Within the logical framework, the knotted plane is a web of non-logical actions. The application of paint binds stretcher to canvas and provides artistic cohesion. It's been a long while since abstract work has moved me to such stirrings of the imagination. Patrick triggers this by magically transforming mundane materials such as torn fabric, ropes and aluminum tubing between the limits of a stretcher. This is one show I will visit again for it achieves, as Patrick wishes, "a view of the places where dreams live and the senses merge." Sharon Zweigbaum November, 1985 |
| BIO |
| 2010 "Artist and Studio", Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, New York (3-person exhibition) 2004-Present "RobertPatrick.org" (Internet Gallery) 2004 McKnight Exhibition: "State of the State", Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 2003-2004 McKnight Foundation Fellowship Visual Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota (fellowship recipient) 2000-present Au Temps Qui Passe Gallery, Genolier, Switzerland (consignment exhibition/European agent) 2000 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MAEP, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1997 Phipps Art Center, Hudson, Wisconsin (group exhibition) 1996 Person to Person, Minneapolis, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1994-1995 Dietrich Contemporary (closed 1995), Soho, New York, New York (consignment exhibition) 1994 Anderson & Anderson Gallery (closed 1994), "Farewell Show", Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1993 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2-person exhibition) 1993 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1992 Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1992 Public Television Program: "Arts on 2", St. Paul, Minnesota (work on TV set) 1991 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1991 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota ( 2-person exhibition) 1990 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MAEP, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1990 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, "Opposites Attract", Minneapolis, Minnesota (3-person exhibition) 1990 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1989 Coffman Union Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1989 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1988-1989 Klein Gallery (closed by fire 1989), Chicago, Illinois (consignment exhibition) 1988 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MAEP, "2-D on 3-D", Minneapolis, Minnesota, (group exhibition) 1988 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (3-person exhibition) 1988 St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota (2-person exhibition) 1988 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1988 Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1987 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1987 Anderson & Anderson Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2-person exhibition) 1986 Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, "3" off the wall, more or less", Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1985 Catherine G. Murphy Galleries, College of St. Catherine, "Equations", St. Paul, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1985 Art Museum of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1981 Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, St. Paul, Minnesota (finalist-funds frozen) 1981 Town Square Park, St. Paul, Minnesota ( group exhibition) 1981 Bream Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota (group exhibition) 1980 Grand Avenue Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1980 St. Paul Academe Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1979-1980 Adjunct Faculty, Studio Arts Department, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1979 Master of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Minnesota 1977 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Arts, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1972 Hand of Man Gallery, St. Peter, Minnesota (solo exhibition) 1970 Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library Sculpture Competition, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1st prize) 1950 Born in Duluth, Minnesota |
