The Words Myth
Josh Robbins
Satirical, tongue-in-cheek yet emotive language, with an air of cynicism; artist John Robbins’ book ‘The Words Myth’ reveals his love of the written word, ‘from poets and literary craftsman to the lyrics of singer song writers’ and how this interest shapes another love of his: painting.
The self-published book is a richly illustrated catalogue of works made during the course of 2019. Ready-mades such as packing boxes, bed heads, mirrors and vintage paintings featuring painted or sprayed text in a variety of fonts, are paired with hand-scribed musings, jutting out of the corners of the pages. Metallic paper resplendently showcases more of the artist’s scribbles of animals, characters and text, with a visually arresting Midas-touch. Tied together with, rhetorical questions, religious iconography and recurring motifs such as rainbows and unicorns; tools to question tribulations of modern life.
.
Page after page, Robbins’ earlier career in advertising is revealed, resonating through this body of works; he utilises the power of words directly and conceptually and places importance as to how they appear aesthetically. A sand blasted mirror, asks ‘what the fuck are you looking at’, and a celestial fabric work, is threaded with the words ‘I really wish we could really wish’. The artist’s ‘adept skill at twisting and manipulating language with incite, audacity and vibrancy’ extends to the caption of a work featured in the publication. Showcasing Robbins wry sense of humour, It’s True (2019) is described to be made from ‘bitumen, ciggies, booze, glass, plastic, dirt, nails, screws, piss and shit on wood’. The work is in fact a light-box sculpture, from which shine the words ‘sometimes the darkest places shine the brightest’.
The publication opens with a short essay expounding Robbins’ artistic practice and his recent collection of works. ‘As much a literal experience as a visual one, this work is all about bridging the gap between the conceptual and the purely visual, with a smart combination of words, colour, observation and insight.’
Contemplating the interaction between his artwork and the audience who encounters the work in some form; ‘It’s simple. Yet it’s complex in its description of why you get it. Somehow, in ‘The Words Myth’, Josh Robbins helps us to say the thing we might think, and think the things we don’t say.’
