Kevin Robertson

Kevin Robertson was born in Norseman, Western Australia, in 1964. He studied painting at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, graduating with a BA in 1984, and was awarded a Master of Arts from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in 1992. He became a PhD Graduate of Curtin University in 2018. He has a consistent practice as a painter and previously exhibited extensively at Galerie Dusseldorf, Perth, and participated in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally. 

Robertson's paintings engage directly with the natural environment. His work zooms in and out from the micro to the macro, from close-up meteorite landscapes to the vast spaces of the desert. Looking at geological perspectives and then to atmospherics in his cloud studies, billions of years of geological time are counterpoised with the transient movement of clouds. 

The phenomenon of a constantly changing environment is reflected in his plein air approach. The process of working from direct observation in the outdoors is a stabilising factor through his changing preoccupations, that include painting both architecture and the human figure. The expression of Kevin’s work converges with representation as mutually compatible concerns. The 'expressivity' of geology forms an important part of his work. Nature is, in this sense, in collaboration with the artist and not a passive subject. The accidents of process, the acute scrutiny, and responsiveness to the conditions of the site all contribute to embedding feeling into observation.  Source: Art Collective WA