JEFF ROBB
COLLECTIONS Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK Getty Museum, Los Angeles, US Washington Museum of the Third Dimension, US SAM Museum, Osaka, Japan HRH Princess Firyal of Jordan ArtiďŹ cium Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
Other Sides 11, Lenticular Photograph, Jeff Robb, 2009
On graduating from the Royal College of Art, London in MA Holography with Distinction in 1993, Jeff Robb was invited by curators of the Victoria & Albert Museum to submit a work in to the permanent collection - the first hologram to be owned by the V&A. His work is now collected all over the world. Robb is driven to explore representations of nature and objects in 3D space within a 2D format. He is a leading international expert in 3D imaging and in lenticular photography in particular. References to art history are notable throughout Robb’s work, in particular his abstract work and nude portraits where he plays with the notion of ‘the gaze’. Conceptually, Robb’s new series, ‘Eidolon’, recalls the aims of Marcel Duchampin a controversial early 20th century painting, ‘Nude Descending a Staircase 2’ of 1912, where Duchamp set out to record the trails of movement of the human figure, resulting in one of the first ever abstract paintings to be publicly exhibited. Exactly one hundred years on in 2012, Robb is pushing boundaries in his own work, inventing new ways of using photographic imaging to record and represent figurative movement in art.
Robb is currently investigating producing work on a large scale and creating pioneering installations and immersive 3D exhibition environments using lenticular technology,. He has a particular interest in relationships between the known and the unknown, which extends to the experience of the viewer.
Education Darwin Scholar Royal College of Art 1992-93MA Holography, Distinction Royal College of Art, 1990-92BSc (Hons) Leeds University
Projects 2012 - 13 ‘Thought Experiments’: Showcase exhibition, 547 West 27th St, New York Gatwick Airport UK: Planned large scale public art installation, North Terminal‘ The Love Of’: Touring contemporary ballet and moving image project, in collaboration with Hungryman Films, Sylph Productions, dancers of The Royal Ballet and the British Fashion Designer, Stella McCartney. Jeff Robb is represented worldwide by Mauger Modern Art, London .
EIDOLON Jeff Robb is one of very few artists who has set out to explore the aesthetic and technical possibilities of ‘lenticular’ photography in his fine art practice. With the Eidolon series, Robb set out to record and represent movements of the human figure in a completely new way. Not only are the figures moving in 3D space, but so are the trails of movement of their limbs and bodies,which appear as flickering shapes of coloured light, captured by a carefully programmed sequence of cameras. The Eidolon images represent a radical departure for Robb and open up new possibilities of working with the figure in motion. Plans are currently underway for a new project working with dancers from The Royal Ballet.
Eidolon 12, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2012
SHOOTING THE AERIAL SERIES Robb goes to extraordinary lengths in achieving his lenticular images, exploring the effects of gravity, light and magnetism on his subjects in new ways. In February 2010, Robb hired the Pinewood Studios Underwater Stage for a ground breaking photographic shoot, working from an underwater studio with a complex rig of thirteen cameras. Several different models worked on the shoot for single figure and group composition shots. The resulting images form a body of work which Robb called the Aerial series.
AERIAL The Aerial series represents an important development in Robb’s work. The shoot at Pinewood was meticulously planned to achieve specific results. The body can achieve shapes and slow movements under water that it can not otherwise do. The Aerial underwater shoot was therefore an opportunity for Robb to really push the boundaries in his representation of human form and movement, as well as the interaction of multiple figures, captured in space. In a recent interview with Nick Curtis, Art Critic for the Evening Standard, who was struck by the Aerial images Robb commented: “I’m trying to cross the barrier between painting, photography and sculpture … this is completely undiscovered territory, but I’m trying to push the boundaries of lenticular imaging as a medium.” Evening Standard, 3 Oct 2011
Aerial 3, Lenticular print, Jeff Robb 2010
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS This series of images portrays the female form in a liminal state, between this world and another; between the known and the unknown. As we move to adapt our view, the figures become apparitions, or wraiths, sometimes drained of colour, as if gradually relinquishing life. The figures are at a gateway, or threshold, undergoing a state of metamorphosis, witnessed by the viewer. Robb comments that these figures “flicker in and out of virtual space as the viewer’s position shifts in front of the work”. This series in particular offers an illusion of great depth and movement.
Thought Experiment 11, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011
UNNATURAL CAUSES Once more, Robb is breaking new ground with this series, not only in terms of composition and aesthetic, but in really testing the limitations of flexibility and form of the human body. The complex figurative compositions of the ‘Unnatural Causes’ series, feature multiple moving figures in multicellular structures made by Robb himself. Robb worked extensively with one model in particular on this series, so the body of work became a genuine collaboration between the artist and his subject. “Undoubtedly one of the centre pieces of the India Art Fair.” Teena Baruah, The Sunday Times, India.
Unnatural Causes 4, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011
OTHER SIDES Robb works in series, where each series is a development from the last in terms of concept and technique. ‘Other Sides’ was Robb’s second series working with the female nude. Here he experiments by painting his subjects white for the shoot, to heighten light and shadow and accents of colour in their hair, eyes and lips, introducing a concept of ‘other worldliness’. The resulting controlled compositions are all about form and clean lines. The images are beautiful in their simplicity. “These figures have a stillness and solidity reminiscent of stone or marble sculpture. Only when you move in front of these images, do you see them in all their elaborate beauty and mystery. Figures disappear and reform in a different guise. In one moment, a face is staring directly at you; in the next, it hides behind the body. In one moment, the figure appears to be a flesh-and-blood body; in the next, an evanescent and illusory form.” Matthew Rake MA
Other Sides 3, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2009
The Unnatural Causes Shoot, 2011
The Other Siides Shoot, 2009
MACROLAND The son of a landscape painter, Robb has a longstanding interest in landscape and abstract painting, admiring the work of British artists including Peter Lanyon (1918-64) and Ivon Hitchens (1893-79) Robb’s first holograms were abstract landscapes and his ‘Macroland’ series evolved from those holograms. “Macroland combines skills in painting, photography, video and computer graphics. … Robb applies paint in myriad ways, urgent flourishes, sensuous strokes and broken textures.... [But] the images are not abstract paintings - they are more akin to sculpture. The brushstrokes inhabit a three dimensional space.... The viewer is invited to become the artist, if you like.” Matthew Rake MA “Amongst the best 3D images I have seen in the context of aesthetic values are those by the British Artist Jeff Robb.” Chris Titterington Former Curator Prints & Drawings, V&A
The Revenant, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011
COLLABORATIONS ‘Equanimity’ Chris Levine, 2004 Creative Producer Jeff Robb
‘The Lightness of Being’ Artist, Chris Levine, 2007 Creative Producer, Jeff Robb In 2004, Chris Levine was commissioned to make a holographic portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. The shoots took place at Buckingham Palace. ‘The Diamond Queen’, a new version of ‘Equanimity’ was commissioned by Asprey jewellers in June 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. ‘
Stillness at the Speed of Light’ Chris Levine, Grace Jones 2010, Creative Producer, Jeff Robb Chris Levine and Jeff Robb collaborated in 2010 with Grace Jones on a series of portraits and laser show at the Vinyl Factory, London.
“Jeff Robb is one of the finest 3D image makers in the world.” Chris Levine
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