In Sight: Conversations — Robin Kerr | Illumine Gallery®
On color, light, instinct, and the quiet balance between structure and surprise. Robin Kerr’s work invites a slower kind of looking. Her paintings hold color, movement, and ambiguity in ways that feel both intuitive and finely considered. In this conversation, she reflects on the role of light in shaping perception, the materials she returns to instinctively, and the kinds of tension that make a piece feel alive.
What first draws you into a new piece: color, light, or a feeling you cannot quite name yet?
Definitely color. What ever is going on in the moment (mood, weather, news) settles in my mind as a color or a set of colors and it goes from there.
Your surfaces feel both precise and spontaneous. How do you balance control and unpredictability in your process?
At the core, I am always assessing if anything is too, too … too random, too straight, too obvious, too neat. I’ll always err on the side of a bit funky or a bit off kilter but every element needs to stand on its own and at the same time, contribute to a whole that works. Mashing up materials, tools and techniques helps. I use exacto cut blue painter tape for very clean restricted edges alongside rag or sponge applications which are loose and unpredictable. Layering up media then pulling it off again keeps things fresh. It’s a reflection of the feeling of exploration without falling over the edge.
How does the light in your studio shape the work you make?
I have a lovely little studio with sky-lights, a north facing window and french doors on the west side. Both seasons and time of day make a huge difference to the natural light that pours in. Of course I have work-shop lights inside too, needed for the gloomier, short days. I have begun to realize that color is entirely dependent on the light conditions. There is no such thing as true color. But it all adds to the assessment of whether a piece is working or not. I can’t know where a piece will end up hanging, so I need to think about whether it works when it is bright, and dull and all the in between moments.
When you look back at your work, what feels like the through-line that connects it?
Movement, ambiguous perspectives, the notion of catching a glimpse of something interesting passing through, elements with character that interact with each other. These aspects are always present in my more successful pieces. I am looking for them now, more proactively. One of the many interesting aspects of art making is that so much of it is instinctual - or accidental. As I become more aware of what works and what doesn’t I check for those moments.
Tell us about a material or tool you reach for instinctively. What role does it play in the final outcome?
I love working with wax pastel. Some of my pieces are almost entirely wax pastel, some only have a very small amount. I find it amazingly versatile. Sgrafitto techniques work beautifully with the pastel. I use all sorts of heated tools to pull off the wax pastel and reveal whatever is underneath. When I am stuck, I’ll rummage through my fabric scraps drawer to see if I have just the right small piece with the right color to collage into the work and resolve the problem. Sometimes I’ll begin with the scrap of fabric to prompt the whole work.
Is there a recent piece that surprised you, where it became something you did not expect?
With a Burst of Glory was an experiment that worked out much better than I expected. Usually, for my abstracted still life pieces, I make solid looking heavily patterned vessels. In this case, I was thinking about a very plain glass vase that I have had for ages. There is a pretty limited palette in this piece. The magic happened when I played around with the white. The flower stems are solid white; the pastel was applied directly to the painted panel. But the glass of the vessel was achieved by using a piece of foam and lightly smearing white across the shape. It turned out remarkably realistic, which is not my usual thing.
What do you hope someone notices or feels when they stand in front of one of your works for the first time?
Calm and Curious. I want them to linger with the work. To have lots of questions. To be interested in what is going on. To wonder what the little elements are; how they work with each other, where they might be going, why I made them.
What keeps you curious in the studio right now? What feels worth exploring next?
I am using more and more acrylic inks in my work. I love their colors and versatility. Sometimes I use them like a wash, other times, I will create a solid color block with them. Left on their own, two inks can create a really interesting intersection. There is a delightful and scary unpredictability about them. They don’t restrict well. Also, I am finding all sorts of interesting effects from using isoproyl alcohol! Of course, originally I was using it to remove something and then I realized it did all sorts of interesting things to the underlayers that I wanted to use on purpose. Subject matter wise, I keep thinking about big pieces with lots of beautiful negative spaces interrupted by very small elements. Each element has to be essential and pleasing in its own right. It also has to work with the whole. I have been spending a lot of time making these little elements and then removing them again in an attempt to find that perfect balance.
Our thanks to Robin Kerr for joining us for this edition of In Sight Conversations.
In Sight: Conversations is an ongoing series from Illumine Gallery® featuring artists in dialogue about process, perspective, and the ideas that shape their work.