Featured Artist Robin Urton

Influenced by dreams, artist Robin Urton creates magical and symbolic mixed media paintings. See more of her artwork by visiting her website.

 

 

My work aims to forge a connection between the natural world and the inner landscape of my mind. My paintings are explorations of an inner journey that has been informed by a lifelong interest in the natural world, archetypal imagery, and the history of art. I want to create captivating images that speak to the symbolic mind, evoking a sense of mystery and magic.

 

 

My artistic journey has been profoundly influenced by an early interest in dreams. I was driven to explore my inner world partly due to being highly sensitive. The world of my imagination was a comfortable place to retreat to.

 

 

I had some intense and very visual dreams which led me to journal about them and learn more about their symbolism. I then started to explore some of the imagery in paintings. Frequent themes include flowers, birds, insects, trees, and people (often dreaming women or Buddha-like figures in meditation).

 

 

The first painting that I created which I consider the beginning of my singular vision was a direct quotation of a dream. I was witnessing a group of birds walking around each other in a pool of water. There were other segments of the dream that could have been explored, since the nature of dreams is their fluidity from one scene to another.

 

 

What I was most curious about is that I was watching birds (creatures of the air), walking upright (like humans), but in the water (like fish) and the fact that the trees were hungrily stretching their roots out towards the water. It’s still a mystery to me what it means. I don’t seek to answer questions so much as to invoke a mystery.

 

 

It’s not surprising that my earliest artistic inspirations were from artists of the surrealist movement and other artists who employed a strong element of poetic fantasy. Some notable early influences where the magical worlds of Rene Magritte and Max Ernst. I fell in love with the naive style of Henri Rousseau’s jungle fantasies. I was also enamored with the lyrical natural abstractions of Georgia O’Keeffe. The list of influences have grown, but since these were the earliest, I feel their influence was seminal.

 

 

Besides the influence of dreams and an interest in art history, I feel that my worldview was strongly impacted by my biologist father. He was a teacher who waxed eloquently about science as well as a number of other topics. I was constantly immersed in conversations about the natural world and its mysteries. His deep interest in quantum physics instilled a curiosity for the interconnection of all things and the universality of space and time. This perspective instilled a profound respect for the natural world and its mysteries.

 

 

I consider myself a mixed media painter. My primary medium is acrylic, though I often create layers that include pastels, oils and metallic leaf. Often when I begin a piece, I do not yet know the subject. I will often create textured backgrounds through pressing textures into wet paint or through sponging or pouring paint directly on the canvas. I work until I figure out the next step, which might come through something I see (a moth that recently appeared at my doorstep, or my cat escaping into the garden) but often it is just an imagined reality.

 

 

Through my art, I invite viewers to explore a realm where the boundaries between reality and imagination blur, and where nature and emotions intertwine. Every image tells a story that resonates on a deeply symbolic level.

 

Robin Urton invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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