Five Minutes with Artist, Robyn Ward

Who is Robyn Ward?

Before we dive into his commentary, we share a bit about the man himself. Robyn Ward is an Irish-born artist who is no stranger to travelling the world. His large-scale contemporary pieces have taken him from Amsterdam to London, Mexico City and Los Angeles. After a successful run at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai, Ward’s exhibition ‘Walking in the Dark’ made its way to London in October 2023 . Featured in SPHERE at the time, you can read more about Robyn and the exhibition here. Back to the now, Ward’s most recent display at Gallery Rosenfeld is complete and we turn our focus to his future plans. Here he shares the process behind his pieces as he moves forward with new creations. From inspirations, to environment, and the music he has booming in the background.

Five Minutes with Robyn Ward

I was born in Dublin but... really grew up in Belfast from the age of 4. This is definitely the city that shaped me in the early informative years. Growing up in the tail end of troubles has had a lot of influence on my work and my life in general. There is a lot of exploration around identity, culture, religion, why people roam, where we belong as human beings etc. On a lot of my canvases I go deep into these questions - using a lot of heavy layered strokes, and brush marks capturing different moments of my own life. From childhood growing up in the north of Ireland to recent day memories in NYC and Tokyo. 

Growing up I was really fond of street art... particularly Faze’s work, as used to see these tags across the streets in Belfast. During my childhood here, most murals were very sectarian. This was also at an age where you don’t fully grasp the meaning behind these political works and take them more for an artistic display without meaning. As I got older I quickly realised the difference. Further afield, I have always been a fan of Futura, Herring, Os Gemeos. And although not street artists, I have been a big fan of the likes of Mark Bradford and Rashid Johnson for a long time. And then very recently have been inspired a lot by D-Penn’s work.

When it comes to my influences... I don’t think there is any single thing that is my biggest creative influence. I need to be constantly intellectually stimulated. A lot of time the inspiration is subconscious, a certain noise I hear daily in a new city or the colour of a door I walk past each day. Can even be the texture of a coat of a daily commuter I pass frequently. It all gets brought into my work in its own way.

My latest works were painted... across Mexico City, London and NYC over a 3 year period. Some of the pieces were worked on across all 3 of these cities. I can work on a piece for months and sometimes years at a time. I like to revisit pieces constantly until the moment they are finished. Once they are finished there is an end to a relationship with a piece and it is no longer kept on a rotational cycle in my studio. I can never tell when that relationship will end, it just one day happens and there is a sense of relief as I feel that I am no longer at war so to speak with that piece. And a contentment comes across me where I no longer have an emotional attachment to battle with it anymore. But until that day happens, every time I see that piece the open conversation is still there. Which can be more than tormenting at times.

When travelling across the world I... visit many exhibitions and museums. I will always try to swing by the Tate Modern whilst in London. Further afield, The Broad in LA, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Noguchi Museum, Long Island city remain among my most frequented museums.

Every time I go to a museum it’s deflating, as when you look at masterpieces it always leaves you humbled. This sense of humbleness is key to my practice, as it also helps create more drive to get back into my studio. I constantly question my work on a daily basis. I can go from loving a piece to hating it to loving it again in a 30 minute period. And this can repeat on a loop. Every artist will always doubt and question there work, I feel it’s a big part of the process.

Now that my recent exhibition at Gallery Rosenfeld is complete... I am going back into the studio to work on a big body of work for the next couple of years. Planning to do a lot of very large scale pieces. It’s how I am feeling at present. I really have the urge to paint large. But let’s see, I could change my mind tomorrow and start painting micro pieces! Never fully know what’s going to come out of my head. I have definitely learnt over the years how to persuade my mind more and temper it but I still never really know until I get into it.

In my studio, I can't do without... music. Really simple. I do spend prolonged periods in silence in the studio, but music playing and playing loud, is essential when I am working. It helps bring an energy or feeling to a particular piece that I am working on. Right now I have Veridis Quo by Daft Punk, Wonderwall by Oasis, Lucky Man by The Verve and going to California by Pink Floyd on repeat the most I would say.

The proudest moment in my career to date is.. my recent first major solo show in Asia at the Modern Art Museum, Shanghai. The concept, which was put together with curator Shai Baitel, was even better than we anticipated and the end result was fantastic. It was a pleasure to work with such a great team and I really enjoyed the museum's vision.  

My favourite travel destination in the world is...Tokyo. I love the city and how well thought out everything is. The attention to detail, care, pride and design of every aspect is at a different level. I get really turned on by that city on all levels. I also just came back from San Sebastián in Spain last week, I hadn’t been in 20 years. Forgot how great of a little “city” it is. The food culture is off the charts, an amazing part of the world with great locals and stunning neighbouring coastal villages. I am however looking forward to revisiting setting up a studio in LA again this winter - It’s been 8 years since I last painted there.

robynwardart.com