ABOUT DICK
American artist Dick Roberts (born 1930 in Kalamazoo) took up painting over 20 years ago after a successful career in merchant banking. He describes himself as a colourist with an innate sense of motion. Based at his studio in Wiltshire, Dick will often “work on a painting over two or three years, building texture and depth of colour, spatial dynamism and flow”, until he feels that the work is finished. He will frequently hang a painting at the end of his pool and contemplate it as he swims, helping him to “correlate the direction the picture should take”.
Over the years, he has experimented with multiple media to try and expand the depth and shadow of the canvas. I “squeeze, squiggle, drop, throw, drag, spray, and brush. Whilst the look may sometimes appear random, all of my paintings are planned with a sense of the balance and flow and colour and texture as the goal”. There is no languid stillness to Dick’s works. They are visceral, totally alive and a vibrant feast for the imagination. His work bears the imprint of a life spent outdoors which has made him intrinsically aware of sun, shadow, motion, atmosphere and luminosity. Materials he uses include: acrylics, tar, sand, and any medium which enhances the motion within his abstract paintings.
Credit: Jack Goodman
