In a short statement Robert says the following about his intentions behind the exhibition: “Business as usual… Or I love collage but does collage love me back? The show will explore on one hand my appropriation of images of Stanley Brouwns work (Dutch conceptual artist) and on the other hand will speculate on whether his being brown (Afro Caribbean Dutch) had anything to do with his desire to remain invisible, by allowing myself in opposition to revel in various materiality’s, layers, words, ways of framing, … and shades of brown.”
The works in the show are mostly based on Robert’s collage techniques and look precious at first side. For some he used images of Stanley Brouwn’s work as a background, for others he loaded other imagery (for example a picture of Carla Bruni) with meaning based on the above statement. While looking beautiful and carefully made, Robert’s work is always deconstructed in a way that causes a certain friction between the one that is looking and what is being looked at.
Centerpiece of the show is a large table where three works are placed on. The beauty of the oak blends harmoniously with the framing and the used materials. One of the pieces contains a sheet of paper on which Robert links many different nuances of the colour brown with the ethnicity, language and religion in Surinam.
In another work he combines several euro notes with a list of work for sale at Konrad Fischer gallery where Brouwn had a show after he died. The euro notes are spread over the wall like a fan and look happy.
In some pieces his references to Brouwn are more diffuse and it is left to the spectator to decide in which way to interpret them. Appreciated for an elegant look and/or loaded with meaning about race, environment and (art) politics.
