Four Fine Arts - Robyn B. West

Robyn first began exploring her love of art in the mid-1980s as a young college student studying Graphic Design and Photography. Learning to see her world through a viewfinder while developing her intuitive understanding of form and color, composition became a huge visual force. An introductory course in painting opened her eyes to where her artistic passions lay, however, it took nearly ten years before she picked up the brush again.

While she works predominantly with the human form, it is in large part only a vehicle for her to explore color, shape and brushwork. She manipulates proportion to push the viewer to transcend what they know. She wants the viewer to engage first on a visceral level - to see the beyond the breast, beyond the face, beyond the cultural notions of beauty. And whether her work takes you underwater - where the you may be challenged by what is below the surface, or sets you up to purposefully not be seen by the subject in the painting, or confront you by strong, capable women proudly bearing their tools, she hopes that when you first see her work, you have an immediate reaction. Be it good or bad - Robyn wants you to feel first, and then ask yourself why.

Robyn has exhibited in Chicago, Detroit, Amherst, Bridgeport, Flagstaff, and Miami. She has various pieces in private collections nationally. She was a partner in the Four Fine Arts gallery in the Design District in 2007-08. Her technical illustrations have been published in Nature, Science, Herpetological Monographs and Natural History magazine.

education
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: graphic design/photography (BFA, 1987)
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff: painting (1995-1998)
University of Massachusetts, Amherst: painting (MFA, 2002)



	robyn b. west
statement : gallery			jon s. eiseman : michael g. enns

		Robyn first began exploring her love of art in the mid-1980s as a young college student studying Graphic Design and Photography. Learning to see her world through a viewfinder while developing her intuitive understanding of form and color, composition became a huge visual force. An introductory course in painting opened her eyes to where her artistic passions lay, however, it took nearly ten years before she picked up the brush again. While she works predominantly with the human form, it is in large part only a vehicle for her to explore color, shape and brushwork. She manipulates proportion to push the viewer to transcend what they know. She wants the viewer to engage first on a visceral level - to see the beyond the breast, beyond the face, beyond the cultural notions of beauty. And whether her work takes you underwater - where the you may be challenged by what is below the surface, or sets you up to purposefully not be seen by the subject in the painting, or confront you by strong, capable women proudly bearing their tools, she hopes that when you first see her work, you have an immediate reaction. Be it good or bad - Robyn wants you to feel first, and then ask yourself why. Robyn has exhibited in Chicago, Detroit, Amherst, Bridgeport, Flagstaff, and Miami. She has various pieces in private collections nationally. She was a partner in the Four Fine Arts gallery in the Design District in 2007-08. Her technical illustrations have been published in Nature, Science, Herpetological Monographs and Natural History magazine. education University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: graphic design/photography (BFA, 1987) Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff: painting (1995-1998) University of Massachusetts, Amherst: painting (MFA, 2002)