Walter Robinson (aka Mike Robinson, born 1950,

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

) is a New York City-based painter, publisher, art curator and art writer. He has been called a

Neo-pop Neo-pop (also known as New Pop) is a postmodern art movement of the 1980s and 1990s. Context Defined as a resurgence of the aesthetics and ideas from the mid-20th century movement capturing the characteristics of Pop art like intentional kitsc ...

painter, as well as a member of the 1980s

The Pictures Generation ''The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984'' was an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City that ran from April 29 – August 2, 2009. The exhibition took its name from ''Pictures'', a 1977 group show organized by art h ...

Life and education

Robinson was born in

, and raised in

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1968. Subsequently, he graduated from the Whitney Independent Study Program in 1973. He lived in SoHo in the 1970s and on

Ludlow Street Ludlow Street runs between Houston and Division Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Vehicular traffic runs south on this one-way street. Name Ludlow Street was named after Lieutenant Augustus Ludlow, the naval of ...

on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

in the 1980s and '90s, and currently lives uptown with a studio in Long Island City in Queens.

Painting career

Robinson is a

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

painter whose work features painterly images taken from covers of

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

s as well as still lifes of

cheeseburger A cheeseburger is a hamburger topped with cheese. Traditionally, the slice of cheese is placed on top of the meat patty. The cheese is usually added to the cooking hamburger patty shortly before serving, which allows the cheese to melt. Cheese ...

French fries French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...

and

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

, and pharmaceutical products like

aspirin Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...

and nasal spray. He also made and exhibited large-scale spin paintings in the mid-1980s, in advance of his colleague

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

. A 2014 touring exhibition of Robinson's paintings included more than 90 works dating from 1979 to 2014. It premiered at the University Galleries at

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

, and subsequently appeared in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

at the

Moore College of Art Moore College of Art & Design is a private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-educational. Hist ...

. The show's final stop was at the

Jeffrey Deitch Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)L.A.'s MOCA picks art dealer Jeffrey Deitch as director''Los Angeles Times''. born 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects ( ...

Gallery in New York City in September 2016. Robinson's works have been exhibited at several New York galleries since the 1980s, including

Semaphore Gallery Semaphore Gallery was a contemporary art gallery founded by Barry Blinderman and A. James Shapiro in 1980 in New York City, located at 462 West Broadway in the Soho district. In 1984, Semaphore East was also established on the corner of 10th and A ...

and

Metro Pictures Gallery Metro Pictures was a New York City art gallery founded in 1980 by Janelle Reiring (previously of Leo Castelli Gallery), and Helene Winer (previously of Artists Space). It was located in SoHo until 1995 when it moved to Chelsea. The gallery close ...

. An exhibition of his paintings, paired with a poem by

Charles Bukowski Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...

, ''There's a Bluebird in My Heart'', was on view in Spring 2016 at Owen James Gallery in

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn� ...

Art criticism and other activities

Robinson began writing about art in the 1970s, when he co-founded with

Edit DeAk Edit DeAk (; formerly deAk; ; September 16, 1948 – June 9, 2017) was a Hungarian-born American art critic and writer, co-founder of the journal '' Art-Rite'' and the non-profit bookstore and artist book distributor, Printed Matter, Inc. Early l ...

the art zine

Art-Rite ''Art-Rite'' was a cheaply produced newsprint art magazine that was published from 1973 to 1978. Located in downtown New York City, it was distributed freely there. Its editors were Mike (Walter) Robinson, Edit DeAk, and Joshua Cohn. Cohn droppe ...

in New York's SoHo art district. He subsequently served as news editor of

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

magazine (1980–96) and founding editor of

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

Magazine (1996-2012). In 2013-14 he was a columnist for Artspace.com, where his essay on ''Zombie Formalism'' appeared. He also served as art editor of the

East Village Eye The ''East Village Eye'' was a cultural magazine, published by editor-in-chief Leonard Abrams, in circulation from May, 1979 until January, 1987. Based in the East Village section of New York City, the publication covered a range of locally focus ...

in the early ‘80s. Robinson was also active in Collaborative Projects (aka

Colab Colab is the commonly used abbreviation of the New York City artists' group Collaborative Projects, which was formed after a series of open meetings between artists of various disciplines. History Colab members came together as a collective in ...

) in the early 1980s, acting as president for a short time and participating in ''

The Times Square Show ''The Times Square Show'' was an influential collaborative, self-curated, and self-generated art exhibition held by New York artists' group Colab (aka Collaborative Projects, Inc) in Times Square in a shuttered massage parlor at 201 W. 41st and 7t ...

''. In the ‘90s he was a correspondent for GalleryBeat TV, a public-access television show.Joy Press, "I Dated Cindy Sherman," Salon.com, May 2, 2008
/ref>

Footnotes

References

* Hager, Steve. ''Art After Midnight: The East Village Scene''. St. Matins Press, 1986. *

Carlo McCormick Carlo McCormick is an American culture critic and curator living in New York City. He is the author of numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and artists. Pedagogic and art writing activities McCormick was Senior Edito ...

, ''The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984'', Princeton University Press, 2006. * Alan W. Moore and Marc Miller, eds. ''ABC No Rio Dinero: The Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery'' New York: ABC No Rio with Collaborative Projects, 1985.
Art Net: The Life and Times of Walter Robinson: A story of outré journals, East Village parties, reality television, painting By Andrew Russeth
*

& Walter Robinson, "Slouching Toward Avenue D",

, 1982.

External links

Walter Robinson in conversation at The Conversation website.

Walter Robinson interviewed by

Phong Bui Phong H. Bui (born September 17, 1964, in Huế, Vietnam) is an artist, writer, independent curator, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of ''The Brooklyn Rail,'' a free monthly arts, culture, and politics journal. Bui was named one of the "100 ...

at the

Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is a publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics. The ''Rail'' is based out of Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, criti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Walter American art critics 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Living people Postmodern artists Artists from New York (state) 1950 births