SWEET SENSATION | ROBBIN DEYO
22.01.2005 | 06.03.2005

Whether they are hundreds of blue monochromes that eventually become clouds, or sugar-charged cereal shapes that playfully create a gigantic Saturday morning constellation, the forms in Robbin Deyo’s wall-works come to us in repetitive obsessive abundance. Set against a mural-sized background, hundreds of cookie-cutter shapes in girlie day-care colours speak of youthful innocence. An endearing sense of tenderness compels the viewer to somehow push aside grown-up cynicism and get swept into a world of whispered sweet nothings.

The flawless finish of the surface is unusual for the traditionally rough and raw qualities of encaustic. There is no trace of touch or tool, reinforcing a sublime optical feast for the viewer. The smooth shapes beg to be touched. Though it may seem odd to spend time discussing the act of touch with work that is resoundingly visual, Deyo’s constructions are as much physical as they are optical — physical in their objecthood, in their generation of an environmental space and in their presence as the delicate artifact of methodical manual labour.

The sheer number and perfection of the shapes attributes an element of gravitas to the otherwise trite wax flowers and octagonals. Deyo’s practice of continually pursuing that which we as a society have come to elevate as “perfection” is the bitter that mediates the sweet. It is this sophisticated, subversive aftertaste that permeates the translucent pastel lustre of Deyo’s not-so-innocent, not-so-jocular, not-so-childish play world.

Robbin Deyo divides her time between studios in Montreal and France. She received her BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and her MFA from Concordia University in 1996. She has been a resident artist at Les Subsistances, Lyon, France and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited widely in Canada and France.

The exhibition text is adapted from an essay by Mark Mullin for a SAAG publication on the artist’s work.