James Robinson was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1972 and currently lives in Dunedin. He completed a Bachelor Of Fine Arts, Otago School of Fine Arts in 2000, Diploma In Art And Craft, Hungry Creek School of Art and Craft, 1996 and Foundation In Fine Art, Nelson Polytechnic, 1990.
Robinson imbues his often monumental canvases with both pointed socio-political commentary, a variety of collaged found objects and rambling (self-)questioning texts as the artist continues to break down the hard edges of the painted grid while mapping his psyche. Philosophy, myth, memory spirituality, history and poetry are themes that manifest themselves through the installation, paintings and drawings on display. His works, ranging from hard-core underground paintings to the unbearable lightness of his works on paper, testament to Robinson’s dexterity in conveying not only the monumental and weighty, but also the complex and the sublime. Physical elements of his practice—from nails, wires, CD’s and glass to textiles, hair, stones and burned objects—are as symbolically resonant as they are vast-ranging.
Robinson has exhibited regularly in private and public galleries both nationally and internationally. In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Wallace Art residency in New York. In 2008 he was artist in residence at McCahon House Titirangi and was resident artist at Tylee Cottage, Whanganui later the same year. In 2019 he won People’s Choice award at the Parkin Award exhibition in Wellington with a In and Out, a large work from his Pyramid series. James Robinson’s work is held in numerous public, private and corporate collections throughout New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland such as James Wallace Trust Collection, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Eastern Southland Gallery, Ashburton Art Gallery, Te Manawa Museum, Otago University and New Contemporaries collection, Sydney.