If you have a chance to walk past The Northlight Gallery, Stromness have a look in the windows. The exhibition currently on show is the latest work by Robinson RR – ‘Coasting with the Devil’.

The image above is from a series of pictures entitled ‘Washed Up’.

The exhibition has been extended to 11th June due to interest shown in it by the public.

Cary Welling, gallery owner said:

“The seven works on display return to the theme of migration that Ralph previously explored in an earlier show called ‘News to Orkney’ in June 2017. A stunning feature of that show was an assemblage sculpture of a boat full of migrants – their vulnerability and peril visible in the fragile, worn piece made of driftwood.

“In the current display there are works from two series, ’The Devil’s Decalogue’ and ‘Washed up’.

“The Devil prints are inspired by images found in medieval manuscripts and bestiaries and are printed on inverted pages from a disbound book of sermons. The artist intends “to illustrate a sort of Ten Commandments, or a Schedule of Satanic Strategies used by those who seek supremacy by sowing discord, discontent and distrust.” For example, “Devil’s Decalogue No. 1 – use a scapegoat to incite prejudice.”  

“The three pieces from the ‘Washed Up’ series are called ‘The Sailor’s Dittybox’, ‘Hope in the Face of a Hostile Shore’ and ‘Driftwood Toybox’, and are composed of wood washed ashore on the beaches of South Ronaldsay. Ralph says that ‘Driftwood Toybox’ was a response to the heartbreaking photograph of a poor Syrian child lying dead on a beach in Turkey in 2015 and that he “imagined a toy box dashed to pieces by the tides and rocks of a foreign coast.”

The Devil prints are printed on inverted pages from a disbound book of sermons and the driftwood pictures and their frames are composed of wood washed ashore on the beaches of South Ronaldsay.

Included with each image are some explanatory notes. You can find out more on the Twitter page of Robinson RR

Previous Robinson RR exhibitions at the Northlight Gallery, Stromness: Robinson RR: News to Orkney Robinson RR at the Northlight Gallery

Selection of works by Robinson RR