Robin’s ‘Parallax’ series of abstract painted panels reside in that category of artworks that really need to be seen ‘in the flesh’ to be fully appreciated. The paintings’ subtle three-dimensional structures – only apparent when encountered first-hand – are designed to cause a ‘parallax’ effect, whereby the spatial relationship between painted lines appears to alter as the visual brain struggles to place them on a two-dimensional plane, while other lines simply appear and disappear before one’s eyes. In this way viewers are able to witness their own perceptual processes in action.

The titles of the paintings, which are hidden within each work, are taken from excerpts from classic literature that play with ideas of change or illusion such as Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis or Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Robin’s scuptural work includes the series ‘Permanent Possibilities of Sensation’ (PPoS) – the title derived from British philosopher John Stuart Mill’s (1806 – 1873) notion concerning the nature of ‘external objects’ – and comprises a body of work to emerge following completion of his PhD in 2014.

Robin’s doctoral study uncovered significant correlations between modern phenomenological theories of visual consciousness and neuroscientific descriptions of aesthetic experience. These artworks were developed to purposefully draw on this significant area of perceptual theory by utilizing the changing array of light, triggered when moving around the sculptures, to transform one’s perception of their structure. Thereby uniquely manifesting specific aspects of these theories in real-time.

Included here are some examples of Robin’s photographic output originating from his Postgraduate Diploma in Photography: Critical Practice (2003) and the subsequent period of creative experimentation. These images primarily explore the aesthetics of ‘surface’ and its relation to theories from psychology involving the ‘internal’ and ‘external’.

Alongside painting, sculpture and photography, Robin’s creative output has also included a series of ‘surrealist’ objects that often use the cube or square as a metaphor for the ‘individual’ (in that both can be interpreted as ‘containers’ with an interior and an exterior). As with all of Robin’s work these disparate constructions have been inspired by his academic study in to the complex processes of human perception.

As part of his art practice and academic study, Robin has produced two small publications.

Private View: The Nature of Visual Process is a record of his art/science collaboration with cognitive neuroscientist Dr Tim Hodgson. Utilizing eye-tracking technology in conjunction with some of Robin’s artworks, this project set out to use some of the actual physiological processes via which the eye provides the brain with information about the outside world to illustrate the unique and idiosyncratic nature of each individual’s visual perception. In essence, each time someone contemplates a work of art, the work is recreated internally. This project set out, in part at least, to make ‘visible’ this hitherto unshared neurological event.

As well as the publication, the project resulted in six newly created artworks that were exhibited at various venues alongside a series of flicker books and digital animations illustrating the process of their creation. The project also resulted in a published academic paper.

The Relative & The Absolute was produced as part of Robin’s MA in Contemporary Visual Arts (2005), and comprises a fictional allegory, various perceptual illusions, and the scientific case for the ‘relativity’ of one’s perceptual experience and wider ‘everyday’ reality.

For copies of both publications please email the artist via the contacts page.

As part of his doctoral study into Neuroaesthetics (Art & Visual Perception) Robin presented and published a number of academic papers. These can be downloaded free of charge by visiting: academia.edu