Robbie Gannaway

I have used vibrant colours in my paintings to represent the diversity of human experience. At a time when racial tensions are rising across the globe, I wanted to create works that challenged the stereotypes promoted in relation to particular demographic groups.

People’s characters aren’t determined simply by the pigment of their skin or their gender at birth, they are instead shaped to a large degree by their experiences in life. The same experience doesn’t always evoke the same response in different individuals.  Our responses are influenced in part by our personalities, but our memories of personal experiences – good and bad – help shape the person we become and often determine how we react to any particular situation.

I have used bright colours to represent pleasant, fulfilling experiences and darker colours to represent more challenging experiences. Both positive and negative experiences are essential to the creation of a person’s balanced character and my use of bright and dark colours helps balance my artworks in the same way. My purposeful use of juxtaposition means I have shown the complexity of each subject’s character.

In addition, I have also used shapes to get clear messages across in my works. I have used asymmetrical shapes to communicate the uniqueness of each person’s experience and the uncertainty and uncontrollability of the world.  I have used repetition sparingly to communicate the idea of routine.  Lack of repetition in my works evokes a sense of chaos in both our emotional lives and in our wider universe.  These works are raw as they indicate the uncertainty and anxiety of being at times out of control, again a frequent part of human existence.

I found myself studying many articles by psychologists debating the Nature vs Nurture argument. Many of the articles did state that although our genes may predetermine many outcomes, it is our experiences in life that have a more marked effect on how we develop. I was particularly interested in experiences being described as building blocks in human learning. This idea resonated with me and I decided to use a building block theme in my works. Each building block is important in creating the whole person. Linking together in often random ways, the building blocks of experience create who we are.

I spent time researching Rene Magritte’s works to help me gain some idea how I could use contrast effectively to communicate to my audience.  I also extensively studied Kaws’ works to get an idea of how my paintings could come together cohesively using shapes representing the building blocks of life.  The fluid nature of his works show how essentially unconnected shapes can merge together to create a whole and this is a technique I tried to replicate. Listening to my subjects’ music as I painted helped ensure my resultant artworks were both emotional and authentic.

To make my exhibition as powerful as possible, I aim to install my paintings in an evolutionary order, from the basic building blocks of emotional life to the desired result.