Robin Kavanagh Gallery

Robin Kavanagh is a Canada based artist and graphic designer who has been painting and drawing seriously for almost 25 years. Click here to read Robin’s full biography and to view his artwork.

Kavanagh describes his work below each portrait.

Love and Muse – oil on panel

This is a simple portrait of my love and muse Christine. We speak a similar language and finish each other’s sentences. She is stronger than me in so many ways and the polar opposite to any pessimism that I hold on to. The most beautiful thing has been to see her as the mother of our son Brendan. The portrait remained unfinished as that special quality of her was slipping away as I worked on it and I knew if I went further it would be gone completely so it remains always in progress, like our lives together.

Masks – oil on canvas

The heads above the figure are other artists or writers even actors whose face I am guilty of putting on at times when I feel faceless myself. The teeth remain however as it is an aesthetic cannibalism going on when we take on other persons that are not us.

Numbers – pencil sketch

I have a fascination with certain numbers at times that goes beyond their relation to events, time or numerology. For some obscure reason “66” registers with me as a curious shape. It may be the repetition of the single form or the curve. I am even intrigued by the way it is spoken. The figure is a martyr who hangs dead or dying over this obsession.

Pushing Paint – oil on canvas

Sometimes when inspiration is not rooted to a subject or idea I enjoy seeing where paint will go by the physical act of just pushing it around. It is linked even to painting when I was young as sometimes a brush is too removed from the surface and I will use my fingers themselves.

Fleeting – digital illustration (iPad)

Friendships, pets, feelings are really such fragile things that can disappear with the slightest change in circumstances.

You can also follow the artist on Instagram here.