Robin Stewart

The circumstances of Robin Stewart’s paintings depict a modern human predicament: the pressure of commercial life. Affairs are packed into a day, which gives no time to think, contemplate, or play. So, a restaurant becomes a place to catch up on correspondence, a café is now an institution where business is carried out. The subjects of his paintings toil quietly, fulfilling a task which must be completed, surrounded by the built environment, the desk, the stairs, the corners, the lifts and the fluoro lights. They wait for a meeting. They pay a bill. Home is far away. A building must be locked. A cleaner begins his work. Drawing has been a central part of Robin Stewart’s art from the beginning. He will often begin his works in pencil and graduate into oil.