ROBERT DOBLE GRAVITY
SCOT T LIVESEY GALLERIES
ROBERT DOBLE GRAVITY
2013
“Electrified in their intensity. Sensualized in their close-knit, sinuous inter-weavings. Robert Doble treats the modernist grid with a rigor never before seen. The layerings here are like lost languages, a palimpsest, one cord or chord of meaning laid over another until we are lost in an opera of colour. When most artists tackle the grid the results are formal and anal. When Doble hits the grid all hell breaks loose. We zoom in from above, the billion linking lights fuzzy from the speed, joining like radiated capillaries. This is the Library of Alexandria on lysergic acid. It is New York, London, Tokyo and Melbourne laid one upon another; the traffic sped up to max. It is the 23rd century Jazz Age on steroids. It is sexual drive; that jittery excitement of fleshly discovery. It is the new cyberspace with all portals interconnected and moving at light speed. And then we slow down and consider the sheer density of paintwork here. For all their insane movement, Doble has considered every link, every colour, every brushstroke. I have been to his ‘studio.’ Once upon a time it was his home; an elegant inner-city apartment. Now it is a shambles. Furniture covered in drop cloths, floor covered in paint-strewn plastic. The sense of urgency, of primal action one sees in these paintings is reflected in their making. No time to seek out a formal studio, no time to waste in getting to work. These pictures reflect a life that consists of bed to brush – a distillation of the past five years. For these paintings take time. They are dense slabs of physical labour. They are also screens of emotional duress and delight. The extremes of human experience are thus broken down into lattice-works, tapestries and maps. Maps not of physical location but of emotional moments. Thus, as the viewer (or voyeur) we hover above them, drawn by their gravity, drawn into the vortex, a world of electrified experience, every nerve-ending alive to the sensation of simply being.” Ashley Crawford, Ubud, 2013
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Pink Vivienne oil, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Hamlet oil, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Yasmin oil, gloss paint & Iriodin速 on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Initiation Gravity industrial, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 30 x 30 cm
Gravity Series #10 gloss paint on Belgian linen, 60 x 60 cm 13
Embankment oil, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Ladbroke Grove W.11 gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Candy industrial, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 60 x 60 cm
Gravity #14 gloss paint on Belgian linen, 60 x 60 cm 19
Electron industrial, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Filament for Warhol industrial, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Gravity #23 automotive & house paint on Belgian linen, 76.0 x 76.5 cm
Pink Study industrial & automotive paint on Belgian linen, 82 x 71 cm 25
Blue Study industrial & automotive paint on Belgian linen, 33 x 33 cm
Candy Cane industrial & automotive paint on Belgian linen, 33 x 33 cm 27
Heaven or Las Vegas oil, automotive & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Fire automotive & industrial paint on Belgian linen, 33 x 33 cm
Love Charm automotive & industrial paint on Belgian linen, 25.5 x 25.5 cm 31
Henry VIII oil, automotive, industrial & gloss paint on Belgian linen, 183 x 152 cm
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Naples automotive & industrial paint on Belgian linen, 33 x 33 cm
Yellow Study automotive & industrial paint on Belgian linen, 33 x 33 cm 35
“My fascination of grids really took hold when I lived in New York in 2000 where I painted the first of my Gravity series. For me, they are a kin to being plugged into a very electric energy field, the jolt of existence with hints of history lurking behind. There is a lifeline that runs throughout the world, the point is about extinction and extension.� Robert Doble, 2013
ROBERT DOBLE GRAVITY
All artworks 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Robert Doble. Catalogue design © 2013 Robert Doble & Simon Strong All works © Robert Doble Photography by Simon Strong Text © 2013 Ashley Crawford ISBN: 978-0-9923363-1-8 www.robertdoble.com