DANIEL ROBBINS •   HENRICO, VA

Daniel Robbins is an emerging artist who deftly presents a variety of images — painterly landscapes, still life compositions, and interiors with figurative elements. He graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and works from his studio in Richmond, Virginia.  

Of his most recent work, Robbins writes: "I needed to get away. For the first time in years, I felt aimless in my artistic pursuits. I was giving everything I could to raising my one-and-a-half year old daughter and caring for my wife who suffered a debilitating pelvic fracture during childbirth. The plein air and observational paintings I had been making for the last ten years were no longer relevant to me. I had changed, and my roles as father and caretaker kept me at home and constantly busy. I couldn’t have successfully worked en plein air even if I wanted to – it was too calm, too grounded, and too logistically inconvenient. I needed to go home. I needed to understand this journey I was on as a husband and father.

My wife, daughter and I packed our bags and drove to my parent’s house near the ocean. I had recently made a few oil sketches at the beach that were exciting me, but I was looking for something else, something more. The first morning at my parents’ house I woke up at 4:30am. I packed my camera and tripod and made the twenty-five minute commute to the oceanfront. The sun was just beginning to rise as I walked through the heavy dunes that lined the beach. Slowly the wooden boardwalk gave way to sand. I took off my shoes and felt the cool sand under my feet. I could see up and down the beach for miles. There was no one around. I was alone. No trees, buildings or power lines cluttered or obstructed the perspective. I saw the horizon and looked into infinity. The wind pushed me sideways and peppered me with sand as the sun beckoned me forward. I could have stopped at any moment and basked in the incredible expanse of sky and clouds if not for the faint rumbling of the ocean. The thin strip of blue-gray swelled as I drew nearer. The waves smashed and crumbled into one another as the wind scooped the foam and threw it about. Salt spray filled my lungs while the waves crashed and slid towards me. The sand was barely in view now, but it could be glimpsed after each wave receded. The sun peaked over the clouds, just above the horizon, and I met its gaze. My vision was full.

I took out my camera, opened the lens to its widest possible angle and hit 'Record.' I sought the presence of something that could provide some balance to my rapidly changing life, but what it provided was an acceptance of change. It demonstrated that ephemeral beauty can repeat itself continuously, though never in the same way. The video recordings remind me of this. They are moments I can replay indefinitely but can’t relive. As I paint from the looped videos I am constantly aware of my separation from the event, but grateful to have had the experience. The videos can be replayed countless times in order to further understand the moment of transformation. Prolong the memory to remind myself to be present in my life. In my work I seek to understand this relationship."


ASSOCIATED EXHIBITIONS

SHOWCASE GALLERY

Opening Reception: September 1st (5-7pm)

September 1 - October 25, 2023
Landscapes and Dreamscapes
SHOWCASE GALLERY
January 15 - February 26, 2021