Robyn Ward | |
Birth Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
Education: | Campbell College |
Occupation: | Painter |
Robyn Ward is an Irish contemporary artist. He uses mixed media on canvas and combines abstract and realist approaches. He is based in Mexico City.
Ward was born on 3 October 1982 in Dublin, where he lived for five years before moving to Belfast.[1] In 2019, Ward claimed that Campbell College expelled him aged fifteen[1] and that he spent his teenage years skateboarding and painting graffiti on derelict buildings[2] before adopting a nomadic lifestyle.[3]
Ward left Belfast at age 18 and went on to work in studios in Bangkok, Shanghai, Amsterdam and Mexico City.[3]
Ward paints on canvas, using a multi-layered style.[4] He uses a mixed media of acrylics, inks, watercolours, Oil paint and spray paint.[4]
Ward cites Jackson Pollock, Banksy, and Hieronymus Bosch as inspiration for his work.[2] His subject matter comprises personal reflections and socio-political commentary.[2] This has included messages about sustainability, racism and bigotry, and the conflict in Ireland.[5]
Ward has worked under several pseudonym and collectives, but in 2016, he broke his anonymity and has since worked under his birth name.[6]
In 2018, the Art Attack Exhibition at the Royal Monceau Gallery in Paris featured Ward's work.[4] In the same year, Ward displayed his artwork in six other exhibitions and solo shows.[4] His solo exhibition 'Once Upon a Time', held in May 2018 at the House of Fine Art in London, combined images of popular children's cartoon characters with reflections on racism and bigotry.[7] For example, one piece depicted Bugs Bunny with a picket sign reading 'no Blacks, no dogs, and no Irish'.[8]
Ward has exhibited at Moniker Art Fair in 2018 and 2019 [9] and as part of the 10th anniversary fair in 2019, he auctioned his work to help fund charities working to preserve endangered species.[10]
In 2019, Ward exhibited a series of artworks entitled 'Plastic Nation' that aimed to draw attention to the global environmental crisis. The pieces focused on the impact of the world's consumption of single-use plastics.[1] Ward auctioned some of the artworks from 'Plastic Nation' to raise funds for a non-profit animal welfare charity.[11]
Ward's 2021 exhibition 'Fucked at Birth' depicted destruction, violence, and societal breakdown as a continuation of ‘Plastic Nation’. The exhibition was first held in Mexico City in October 2021, followed by New York, London, Los Angeles and São Paulo.[12]
In May 2023, Ward debuted his first solo exhibition in the US, ‘Walking in the Dark,’ at 82 Gansevoort Street in New York.[13] The exhibition was curated by Shai Baitel, the artistic director of the Modern Art Museum Shanghai (MAM) and featured twenty-two abstract paintings and six.