LUAP
A skilled fine artist who dynamically fuses painting and photography, Paul Robinson aka LUAP, born in Grimsby in 1982, is fast gaining critical recognition and a celebrity following for his exciting work.
Working across various mediums his work hints at abstract expressionism infused with the explosive energy and bold colour of Pop and Urban Art. Exploring existential subjects within a contemporary feel his work stands alone in its composition and provoking content and subject matter.
"The complexity of Robinson’s imagery and overlaying of pattern has been informed by the work of Robert Rauschenberg. Robinson paints a world, which joins Christopher Wool’s fabric paintings with a 1970’s Peter Phillips pop landscape. These images are reminiscence of dream sequences from 1960’s films; a drug trip depicted in solarisation photography where the image recorded is wholly or partially reversed in tone.” - Martin Maloney
His most iconic series depicts a pink teddy bear come-to-life and placed in the real world acting as a metaphor for discovery and exploration. The costumed figure – a striking motif in his work – exists between reality and make-believe, youthful innocence and corruption, leading a lifestyle that looks simultaneously enviable and questionable.
Robinson sells and exhibits his work globally, highlights include London, New York, Dubai, Hong Kong & Berlin. He has exhibited alongside internationally renowned artists including Picasso, Banksy, Warhol & Hirst at Andipa Gallery Knightsbridge and created large bespoke artworks for exclusive London members club, Home House. A Pink Bear print recently sold for three times the listed price at Christie’s on behalf of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The Pink Bear
‘The Pink Bear’ has transformed a distant childhood memory of mine, by removing the bear from the context of a family portrait - which remained for years in my mother’s bedroom drawer - and placing it into surroundings similar to that of a real bear.
In the forest the bear is no longer a mascot for a theme park or TV show but becomes a mystical figure of a fantasy make believe world. The Pink Bear is not a man in a costume, it is an alter ego. The partially costume dressed figure is the transformation between reality and make believe, innocence and corruption. The pink bear has a whimsical sense of playfulness through its association with childhood memories, yet remains firmly attached to adulthood through the tainted surfaces that surround the character in the abstract spaces of the paintings.
Acrylic and Screen Print on Somerset Satin Paper
Limited Edition of 40
Signed and Numbered on Reverse
Size Framed: 420 x 545mm