Carol Robertson

Carol Robertson lives and works in London. She is represented in the UK and USA by Flowers Gallery, by Galleri Weinberger in Denmark and by Peter Foolen Editions in The Netherlands. Her paintings, prints and watercolours can be found in public and private collections worldwide. She has published catalogues and artist’s books, and in 2005 won First Prize in the Singer & Friedlander/ Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. She was awarded a Research Fellowship in Painting at Cardiff School of Art & Design from 2003 - 2008. During 2010/11 her new work has been exhibited in Japan, Austria and at Flowers UK, and she has completed artist residencies in Alayrac, France and the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland.

Recent work has moved away from previous architectonic motifs of circles and stripes towards a more informal relationship with landscape, architecture, nature and the environment, yet Robertson’s work remains firmly rooted within reductive abstract conventions. Although she doesn't seek to confirm or record the way the world looks, her work is never disconnected from it. Coloured arcs or circles loosely traverse the canvasses, with collisions and crossovers registering flashes of chance and coincidence. There is the reminiscence of small arcane details that curve across one’s vision, transient and fleeting, condensed into trailing arcs of colour and optical activity. Each canvas is prepared with poured and stained pigment grounds: unstructured, atmospheric layers that deliberately highlight and complement the compass-drawn and carefully over-painted detail. Registrations of colour evolve intuitively, frequently altered during the making of a work.

Earlier paintings and prints tend to employ simpler geometric formations, usually circles squares or stripes. These forms are placed side by side, or one within another, creating optical formations of differing colour, solidity and light. The circle continues to be an enduring archetypal motif in her work. Colour is frequently associative and luminous contrasts of light and dark give her paintings a very particular intensity. Robertson's working methods are still as slow and meticulous as ever. She continues to build up surfaces with carefully hand-painted layers of oils and glazing mediums, avoiding the time saving short cuts of masking tape and spray guns. The relationship between the intimacy of human touch and the significant time spent on every work remains paramount.