Keyword: pop culture
The Promised Land
On the surface, it’s meant as a humorous picture of a young woman driving off with her idol, rock star Bruce Springsteen. The model for the woman is Heather MacKinnon and the finished painting was given to Heather as a
Study for Friends and Music
Robert was part of a circle of young people for whom making and sharing music was an important element of their friendship. The three women are framed between the moon in the background and a tape recorder in the foreground.
Popeye & Criminal Collage
In art school, Robert was introduced to Pop Art by his British-Canadian painting instructor John Clark. Pop Art borrowed imagery from mass produced sources, (comics, ads, movies, as well as sensational tabloid imagery of crime and violence), to portray a society with a short attention span bombarded
Family Illness (Watercolour)
A young man and woman sit facing one another across the bedside of an older patient, most likely the mother of one or both of them. No one tries to communicate. Being there is all that counts. The sharp perspective
Escape from the Promised Land
Robert made strong and lasting friendships at university–this was clearly an essential part of his school experience–and it pained him when, after graduation, his friends began “going down the road,” leaving the region one by one. This “brain drain,” so detrimental to the province, remains the
Ghosts
Robert loved going to the movies and discussing films with friends afterwards. He was influenced by the look of films, by the cropping and lighting of images. He was fascinated by telling stories through pictures and the psychological effects suggested by
Apartment
A man and woman appear together in a room but they are divided by modern devices: telephone, TV and stereo. Robert’s girlfriend Heather talks on the phone, while a screen lights up in the background. The pensive man, a self-portrait