~WALTER ROBINSON . . BIG RETROSPECTIVE
‘WALTER ROBINSON: Paintings and Other Indulgences’
OCT 17 – DEC 22, 2014
UNIVERSITY GALLERIES of ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY
organized by the BARRY BLINDERMAN, this is the FIRST museum survey of NY-based WALTER ROBINSON’S work, as well as the INAUGURAL exhibit at the UNIVERSITY GALLERIES of ILLINOIS STATE – new storefront spaces at Uptown Station in Normal, Illinois.
the survey includes 80 paintings, covering the years 1979-2014.
read more: WALTER ROBINSON SURVEY
read: about BARRY BLINDERMAN, director of University Galleries of ISU since 1987
WALTER ROBINSON, ‘PICTURE PERFECT KILL’, acrylic on canvas, 2012. 48 x 48 in.
collection: MIMA & CESAR REYES, PUERTO RICO – image: University Galleries, Illinois State University
speaking of which: SIMON CERIGO.
SIMON & I were both early fans, 1981 onwards – of Walter’s work. at one point we owned almost 10 canvases, including some ‘pulp novel’ covers, a drug cabinet, a straw flower still-life arrangement, and the big ‘ape’ reporter. Simon sold them all off during the years when he needed dough, with most of them ending up in his sister Helene’s collection, one of which was lent to this show, ‘Revenge’. Simon bought it from METRO PICTURES in 1982, 1983 at the latest.
Simon had his own relationship with Walter over the years, and I of course knew Walter pretty well, from 2002-2004 when he was my editor at artnet, where I was an event photographer – with my own column. when Walter hired me, it was the very first time anybody ever took me seriously, I had been taking photos for over 20 years at that point (!!) and artnet was the very first time – a photo of mine was published, so . . wow.
but he also fired me – 3 times !!
the third time stuck. I founded artloversnewyork as an independent site, posts began APRIL 2005.
what happened ?
I was bringing in too much indie stuff, and god forbid . . musicians, name one: Devendra Banheart !! but more crucially, I had managed to hustle up a nicepaid advert platform – which made everybody else over there very jealous, long story – short: I was the only the artnet contributor to hustle up income for my content, we were all unpaid !! (except for Walter of course !!) and yes, people got very very – jealous, so when Walter told me I had to drop the paid bit
– I quit, duh. it was the classic NYC . . “you are fired for being too successful” scenario, but I was always thankful to Walter for giving me a break, and a big one.
and, anyways I really did prosper better without an editor over me, and people soon came to realize I wasn’t just a papparazi ‘go-get-Schnabel’ dog, but actually had a mind behind the camera lens.
I always thought Walter was a great painter, but I did, and still do . . blame him for sticking that nerdy ‘artlovers’ tag . . on me !! I always liked what Charlie Finch called me better: CRACKULA, Crack for short !!
Charlie actually was the one to prompt Walter into looking at my PHOTOS, and he always berated me with: “does all the world revolve around Nancy ?”, to which I always replied: “damn straight” !!
who knew, a budding spin doctor was in the making, case in point !!
sandwiched between Walter and Charlie, those were the . . days !!
very exciting.
WALTER ROBINSON, ‘REVENGE’, 1982. acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
interestingly – the piece still has the original METRO PICTURES label on the back.
collection: HELENE CERIGO LUPATKIN
PHOTO: HELENE CERIGO LUPATKIN