Dave Robertson
Born in Zimbabwe and based in Cape Town, Dave Robertson is a
self-taught abstract painter, photographer and printmaker, who spent the
early part of his artistic journey, working in the film industry as an art-director.
In between film projects he would follow his passion for photography, which
was primarily a form of social commentary often concerned with
documenting marginalised lifestyles.
After winning a national award at Spier Contemporary 2010, for
'Paper Trails’, a photographic project documenting urban recyclers
in Johannesburg, he took a break from both photography and the
film industry to focus on painting. His first solo exhibition of abstract
paintings was with Worldart Gallery, Cape Town in 2011.
Since then Robertson’s paintings have been acquired by a variety of international collectors from the USA, Sweden, Australia and the UK. Local collectors include the South African Foundation for Contemporary Art (SAACA), AFDA, Nando’s and
Spier Arts Trust.
“My
creative process relies
on my ability to react to whatever marks, gestures or brush strokes I
make previously. I paint, then react to what is in front of me,
attempting
to resolve the visual situation I have placed myself in. Working in
this way, often on several artworks simultaneously and operating with
varying degrees of confidence and uncertainty, I attempt to discover
what the painting is trying to say to me. Presence
and energy are important aspects in this process which
aims
to convert something inert into something that can be responded to
emotionally.
These
paintings are
often concerned with the in-between spaces which are not immediately
apparent but can be found just under the ‘skin’
of
the perceived physical world. A place where fact and fiction,
objectivity and
subjectivity
join hands in a dance that is often magical. Where our so-called
physical
reality seemingly invites aspects of the metaphysical world to show
themselves
in the work.”
