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Cameron Byron Roberts
WOOD DRAKE: 48 x 72 (triptych - 3 panels) acrylic glaze on canvas
DAILY STUDIES Various Media, 4.5 X 6.5 inches (9.5 x 12 framed)
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RUBRUM SERIES Acrylic on Paper 10 x 12 inches (14 x 17 matted)
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Cameron Byron Roberts is an architect and artist, having spent many years as an educator, investment advisor and campus planning consultant before turning to painting. His work is minimalist in nature, believing that in times of visual and sensory overload, “less is more,” and inviting viewers to connect with their own experiences of nature.
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“For me painting is a meditative act involving pure observation. Starting out as a “plein air” painter, I found myself moving back into the barn to work from memory, whittling down the images observed in the field, working with a collection of primitive tools; rough brushes, palette knives, and squeegees. Often I apply a luminous undertone, using an old master technique, of Indian Yellow or Cadmium Red, or Black with Quinacridone Red or Ultramarine Blue to create luminosity. Paintings take days or weeks, or sometimes months before coming alive and making themselves known in a day or two.
"My architectural career began as an apprentice to Frank Gehry, who instilled in me an appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the visual arts. This formed the basis of my approach to teaching architectural design and theory at Harvard, MIT and RISD, and eventually led to my becoming a full time painter.
“Artists which inspire my work are the color field painters of the 1960’s, Rothko and Frankenthaler, the abstract expressionists of the 1980’s, Richter and Keifer, and the many contemporary English abstract painters, working in a landscape not unlike mine, here on the Great Marsh of Boston’s North Shore. Inspiration also comes from the musicians who guide my work while working in the studio; Mark Knoplfer’s fragmented solos, Chet Baker’s disrupted melodies, Tyler Childer’s desperate ballads, Patty Griffin’s melancholy chants.
“Spending my days looking at the sky, staring into the trees, the surf, I look for what lies beneath, in the beauty of the shadows, taking me back to my early discoveries of the marsh, the thicket, and the sea. Removed from the daily routine of life, I seek to convey those moments to those who appreciate nature in the same way.”
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“For me painting is a meditative act involving pure observation. Starting out as a “plein air” painter, I found myself moving back into the barn to work from memory, whittling down the images observed in the field, working with a collection of primitive tools; rough brushes, palette knives, and squeegees. Often I apply a luminous undertone, using an old master technique, of Indian Yellow or Cadmium Red, or Black with Quinacridone Red or Ultramarine Blue to create luminosity. Paintings take days or weeks, or sometimes months before coming alive and making themselves known in a day or two.
"My architectural career began as an apprentice to Frank Gehry, who instilled in me an appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the visual arts. This formed the basis of my approach to teaching architectural design and theory at Harvard, MIT and RISD, and eventually led to my becoming a full time painter.
“Artists which inspire my work are the color field painters of the 1960’s, Rothko and Frankenthaler, the abstract expressionists of the 1980’s, Richter and Keifer, and the many contemporary English abstract painters, working in a landscape not unlike mine, here on the Great Marsh of Boston’s North Shore. Inspiration also comes from the musicians who guide my work while working in the studio; Mark Knoplfer’s fragmented solos, Chet Baker’s disrupted melodies, Tyler Childer’s desperate ballads, Patty Griffin’s melancholy chants.
“Spending my days looking at the sky, staring into the trees, the surf, I look for what lies beneath, in the beauty of the shadows, taking me back to my early discoveries of the marsh, the thicket, and the sea. Removed from the daily routine of life, I seek to convey those moments to those who appreciate nature in the same way.”