artist profile
Peter Robinson
born
1966
lives and works
Auckland, New Zealand
education
BFA, Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1989
about the artist
Peter Robinson makes art that criticizes, provokes, and confronts. An earlier exclusivity to sculpture evolved into a multidisciplinary practice that tackles private dilemmas surrounding his ethnic identity and invigorates public discourse on pressing global crises of a social, political, or economic nature. The artist’s heritage has given rise to a body of work that satirizes official policies and postcolonial imperialism in compelling and humorous ways. Over time, Robinson’s artistic production has shifted away from a contextual preoccupation toward a more visceral experience, as he applies the same rigor onto his exploration of media and materials. Robinson boasts an exceptionally colorful roster of residencies, having completed programs at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen and the Göethe Institut in Düsseldorf, Germany; the Artspace in Sydney, Australia; and the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany. He has mounted solo shows extensively in Australia and in New Zealand, and his work has been included in exhibitions and fairs worldwide, held at venues such as the Frankfurter Kunstverein in Germany; the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil; the Johannesburg Biennale in South Africa; the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum in Aachen, Germany; the Museum Ludwig in Köln, Germany; and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Germany. The artist also represented New Zealand in the exhibition bi-polar at the 49th edition of the Venice Biennale.