Jeff Robb

JEFF ROBB

COLLECTIONS

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Getty Museum, Los Angeles, US

Washington Museum of the Third Dimension, US

SAM Museum, Osaka, Japan

HRH Princess Firyal of Jordan

Artificium Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

Other Sides 11, Lenticular Photograph, Jeff Robb, 2009

On graduating from the Royal College of Art, London in MA Holography with Distinction in 1993,

Jeff Robb was invited by curators of the Victoria & Albert Museum to submit a work in to the

permanent collection - the first hologram to be owned by the V&A. His work is now collected

all over the world.

Robb is driven to explore representations of nature and objects in 3D space within a 2D

format. He is a leading international expert in 3D imaging and in lenticular photography in

particular.

References to art history are notable throughout Robb’s work, in particular his abstract

work and nude portraits where he plays with the notion of ‘the gaze’. Conceptually, Robb’s

new series, ‘Eidolon’, recalls the aims of Marcel Duchampin a controversial early 20th century

painting, ‘Nude Descending a Staircase 2’ of 1912, where Duchamp set out to record the

trails of movement of the human figure, resulting in one of the first ever abstract paintings

to be publicly exhibited. Exactly one hundred years on in 2012, Robb is pushing boundaries

in his own work, inventing new ways of using photographic imaging to record and represent

figurative movement in art.

Robb is currently investigating producing work on a large scale and creating pioneering

installations and immersive 3D exhibition environments using lenticular technology,. He has

a particular interest in relationships between the known and the unknown, which extends to

the experience of the viewer.

EducationDarwin Scholar Royal College of Art 1992-93MA Holography, Distinction Royal College of Art,

1990-92BSc (Hons) Leeds University

Projects 2012 - 13‘Thought Experiments’: Showcase exhibition, 547 West 27th St, New York Gatwick Airport UK:

Planned large scale public art installation, North Terminal‘ The Love Of’: Touring contemporary

ballet and moving image project, in collaboration with Hungryman Films, Sylph Productions,

dancers of The Royal Ballet and the British Fashion Designer, Stella McCartney.

Jeff Robb is represented worldwide by Mauger Modern Art, London .

EIDOLON

Jeff Robb is one of very few artists who has set out to explore the aesthetic and technical

possibilities of ‘lenticular’ photography in his fine art practice.

With the Eidolon series, Robb set out to record and represent movements of the human

figure in a completely new way.

Not only are the figures moving in 3D space, but so are the trails of movement of their limbs

and bodies,which appear as flickering shapes of coloured light, captured by a carefully

programmed sequence of cameras.

The Eidolon images represent a radical departure for Robb and open up new possibilities of

working with the figure in motion. Plans are currently underway for a new project working with

dancers from The Royal Ballet.

Eidolon 12, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2012

SHOOTING THE AERIAL SERIES

Robb goes to extraordinary lengths in achieving his lenticular images, exploring the effects

of gravity, light and magnetism on his subjects in new ways. In February 2010, Robb hired the

Pinewood Studios Underwater Stage for a ground breaking photographic shoot, working from

an underwater studio with a complex rig of thirteen cameras.

Several different models worked on the shoot for single figure and group composition shots.

The resulting images form a body of work which Robb called the Aerial series.

AERIAL

The Aerial series represents an important development in Robb’s work. The shoot at Pinewood

was meticulously planned to achieve specific results.

The body can achieve shapes and slow movements under water that it can not otherwise

do. The Aerial underwater shoot was therefore an opportunity for Robb to really push the

boundaries in his representation of human form and movement, as well as the interaction of

multiple figures, captured in space.

In a recent interview with Nick Curtis, Art Critic for the Evening Standard, who was struck

by the Aerial images Robb commented: “I’m trying to cross the barrier between painting,

photography and sculpture … this is completely undiscovered territory, but I’m trying to push

the boundaries of lenticular imaging as a medium.”

Evening Standard, 3 Oct 2011

Aerial 3, Lenticular print, Jeff Robb 2010

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

This series of images portrays the female form in a liminal state, between this world and

another; between the known and the unknown.

As we move to adapt our view, the figures become apparitions, or wraiths, sometimes drained

of colour, as if gradually relinquishing life. The figures are at a gateway, or threshold, undergoing

a state of metamorphosis, witnessed by the viewer.

Robb comments that these figures “flicker in and out of virtual space as the viewer’s position

shifts in front of the work”. This series in particular offers an illusion of great depth and

movement.

Thought Experiment 11, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011

UNNATURAL CAUSES

Once more, Robb is breaking new ground with this series, not only in terms of composition

and aesthetic, but in really testing the limitations of flexibility and form of the human body.

The complex figurative compositions of the ‘Unnatural Causes’ series, feature multiple

moving figures in multicellular structures made by Robb himself.

Robb worked extensively with one model in particular on this series, so the body of work

became a genuine collaboration between the artist and his subject.

“Undoubtedly one of the centre pieces of the India Art Fair.”

Teena Baruah, The Sunday Times, India.

Unnatural Causes 4, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011

OTHER SIDES

Robb works in series, where each series is a development from the last in terms of concept

and technique.

‘Other Sides’ was Robb’s second series working with the female nude. Here he experiments by

painting his subjects white for the shoot, to heighten light and shadow and accents of colour in

their hair, eyes and lips, introducing a concept of ‘other worldliness’. The resulting controlled

compositions are all about form and clean lines. The images are beautiful in their simplicity.

“These figures have a stillness and solidity reminiscent of stone or marble sculpture. Only

when you move in front of these images, do you see them in all their elaborate beauty

and mystery. Figures disappear and reform in a different guise. In one moment, a face

is staring directly at you; in the next, it hides behind the body. In one moment, the figure

appears to be a flesh-and-blood body; in the next, an evanescent and illusory form.”

Matthew Rake MA

Other Sides 3, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2009

The Unnatural Causes Shoot, 2011

The Other Siides Shoot, 2009

MACROLAND

The son of a landscape painter, Robb has a longstanding interest in landscape and abstract

painting, admiring the work of British artists including Peter Lanyon (1918-64) and Ivon

Hitchens (1893-79) Robb’s first holograms were abstract landscapes and his ‘Macroland’

series evolved from those holograms.

“Macroland combines skills in painting, photography, video and computer graphics. … Robb

applies paint in myriad ways, urgent flourishes, sensuous strokes and broken textures.... [But]

the images are not abstract paintings - they are more akin to sculpture. The brushstrokes

inhabit a three dimensional space.... The viewer is invited to become the artist, if you like.”

Matthew Rake MA

“Amongst the best 3D images I have seen in the context of aesthetic values are those by the

British Artist Jeff Robb.”

Chris Titterington Former Curator Prints & Drawings, V&A

The Revenant, Lenticular Print, Jeff Robb 2011

COLLABORATIONS

‘Equanimity’ Chris Levine, 2004

Creative Producer Jeff Robb

‘The Lightness of Being’ Artist, Chris Levine, 2007

Creative Producer, Jeff Robb

In 2004, Chris Levine was commissioned

to make a holographic portrait of HRH

Queen Elizabeth II. The shoots took place

at Buckingham Palace. ‘The Diamond

Queen’, a new version of ‘Equanimity’ was

commissioned by Asprey jewellers in June

2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. ‘

Stillness at the Speed of Light’ Chris Levine, Grace Jones 2010, Creative Producer, Jeff Robb

Chris Levine and Jeff Robb collaborated in 2010 with Grace Jones on a series of

portraits and laser show at the Vinyl Factory, London.

“Jeff Robb is one of the finest 3D image makers in the world.” Chris Levine

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