From noon today you can watch a short film about Orkney based Artist Ralph Robinson, who signs his work as Robinson RR, on the Orkney News YouTube channel.
Ralph spoke to fellow artist Martin Laird on location at his current exhibition Times and Tides: Allegories of our days, at Northlight in Stromness.
Ralph talks through some of the artwork on display in Northlight gallery, and explains his motivations for becoming an artist following a career as a teacher. He is inspired by found materials which wash up on the shoreline in Orkney, and which take on new meanings when married together in his work. He also works closely with his wife Patty Boonstra, an accomplished printmaker and artist in her own right.
The artist has a strong sense of morality and duty, and his work responds to a UK political environment which has become increasingly hostile to migrants in particular. He seeks to express himself to fulfill a sense of social justice, and in the hope of helping others in the face of the increasing upheaval caused by war, catastrophic climate change, and the resulting mass movement of people.
The short film Robinson RR: Times and Tides presents an interesting counterpoint to Dimittit In Artes, the recent film about painter Vernon Bradley. Whilst they are very different both as people and as artists, there are nevertheless some parallels. Both artists recognise, and are responding to, some of the same challenges facing Western society (albeit in different ways). There will be another chance to see Dimittit In Artes live streamed on the Orkney News YouTube channel on Friday 19th July 2024 at 9.30pm GMT.
Times and Tides: Allegories of our days, the exhibition by Robinson RR, is on show at Northlight in Stromness until the 15th of July 2024.
You can read an in-depth review of the exhibition by Sheena Graham-George and Victoria Bennett for The Orkney News at the following link:
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