Charles Robb
Charles Robb - Biography
Charles Robb (1938-2023) was born in Toronto. After graduating from the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1959, Robb travelled through Europe, exploring and sketching. To make a living upon his return he worked in advertising, continued to paint in his home studio and, being an avid drummer, performed with various groups around Toronto.
Robb began painting as a teenager and at the age of 25, was already considered good enough by art historian & critic Clement Greenberg to have a one-person exhibition at the prestigious Andre Emmerich Gallery in New York. At this time he was drawn to landscape painting which, during his years at OCA, became a devotion to abstract expressionism. Over the years this devotion evolved through various modes, experimenting with colour field painting but with more a lyrical bent.
Art has always been part of Robb’s life. His father was international renowned colour field painter, Jack Bush. As a young man Robb spent valued occasions, both in Toronto and New York, with the likes of Greenberg, Kenneth Nolan, and Tony Caro. Later he enjoyed many years with his contemporaries while under contract to his art dealer and friend, the late Jack Pollock.
In 1981 the CBC produced a documentary on Charles Robb for the ‘Seeing It Our Way’ Series. Part of that documentary was filming Robb’s process of creating a painting from beginning to end. Robb always listens to music while painting and put on a Dave Brubeck tape when filming started. The director asked him to turn the music off as it would make the final sound editing difficult. For the first time Robb painted in silence. The final edited show had the Brubeck piece as its theme. It was from this experience that Robb realized how his love of music and art had merged. He paints the music.
Robb and his wife, Mary Anne, now enjoy life in the town of Goderich on the shore of Lake Huron.
“Art and music will always be an implicit part of me along with the constants in my life, my wife, my three sons and their families.”
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
1963 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
1964 David Mirvish Gallery, Toronto
1970 Nightingale Gallery, Toronto
1972 Gordon Hill Advertising
1977 Pollock Gallery, Toronto
1978 Pollock Gallery, Toronto
1979 Pollock Gallery, Toronto
1980 Pollock Gallery, Toronto
1981 Kitchener-Waterloo Gallery
1981 Pollock Gallery, Toronto
1981 LeFebvre Gallery, Edmonton
1982 Gallery One, Toronto
1982 Galerie Elca London, Montreal
1984 Gallery One, Toronto
1985 Gallery One, Toronto
1986 Gallery One, Toronto
1987 Gallery One, Toronto
1989 Gallery One, Toronto
1990 Gallery One, Toronto
Selected Collections:
Harry Abrams Publishers, New York
Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia
Bank of Canada, Ottawa
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Central Precision, Toronto
Citicorp Limited, Toronto
Esso Resources Limited, Calgary
Kert Chemical Industries, Toronto
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
John Labatt Limited, London, ON
Lee, Dyson Associates, Toronto
Art Gallery of London, London, ON
Goodman & Goodman, Toronto
Cathay Bank, Toronto
TeleGlobe Canada, Toronto
Bank of America, Toronto
Xerox Canada
Artist Specialization - Colour Field Painting: Robb, like the elder Bush, is a colourist. He prefers to work in large scale, meticulously preparing a complex, multi-layered background and then super-imposing a number of simple abstract shapes that serve as containers for fascinating colour choices in unusual combinations. One of his trademark devices is a gestural flick that looks like a quotation or ink mark. Swarms stream across his canvases and in some pieces they resemble the dance of brightly coloured petals blowing in the wind, while in others they remind one of converging schools of tropical fish, sunlit ripples on a clear pond, a golden wheat field tossing in the breeze or sky rockets exploding in the night sky. The effect is soft, lyrical, and romantic.
