Contributed
There’s another splash of graffiti-inspired art in Fernie this month, with the Arts Station exhibiting ‘Electric Sunrise’, a collection of pieces created by Fernie-based artist Theo Robinson.
Made up of bright bold forms and clearly inspired by graffiti art the world over, Robinson’s exhibition is the culmination of three and a half years of artistic progress. By day he’s a graphic designer and animator
“I would classify my work as post-graffiti or graffuturism, both are essentially taking the stylistic and abstract forms from graffiti and turning that into gallery pieces in a more formalized manner,” said Robinson.
Born in the UK and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Robinson’s art is abstract motifs, landscapes and patterns that incorporate counterpoint, tension, colour and object hierarchy to create balanced but intriguing patterns.
Pointing to some of his favourite pieces on display - two pieces made up of warm and cool colours and displayed together at the exhibit - Robinson said inspiration for them came from the division through the last few years.
“Originally that was a motif that came out of the state of the news media. It was all in the middle of COVID, and looking at that aggression of left and right media influence, and it’s also about the repetition and similarities of people across this divide that we’ve been experiencing in hyper mode for the last three-four years.”
Robinson’s art is made up of prints and cutouts, and said that overall his style “arced back to graffiti as a whole in that pieces aren’t square uniform pieces on a wall, but are made up of shapes.”
The exhibition at the Arts Station is a first for Robinson in Fernie.
“It’s great to see there is community in Fernie that come down to support (art) even when it’s not people they know. It speaks to the larger artistic community in Fernie.
“It’s great to be able to display something quite different.”
Robinson thanked those who had helped the exhibition come together, which will be on display at the Arts Station for the rest of February.