Robin Tarbet
Robin Tarbet (born 1981, Somerset UK) studied at the Royal College of Art and is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors in London. He is the founder of self publishing initiatives Swap Art Editions and co director of Object | Multiple.
Robin is an artist (and collector of everyday stuff) who uses ad-hoc casting processes and printing techniques to make work that features transformations of recognisable things in unfamiliar situations. The act of walking, finding and discovering source materials is a big part of how he engages with the world around him. His practice often incorporates a performative ‘working in the field’ approach and he has a speculative lure for failed, obsolete or perishable subject matter. Robin’s recent activities have included plaster casting dead jellyfish washed up on a welsh beach, to making moulds inside a nuclear power station. In 2024 he won the Eilean Shona Sculpture Residency and spent a month alone on a Scottish wilderness island.
To help fund his studio Robin regularly works in academia, with 15+ years teaching experience as a Senior Lecturer, and as well as making his own work he regularly produces commissions and fabrication projects for international artists, designers, architects and commercial clients.
EDUCATION:
2004 - 2006: MA Fine Art Printmaking at The Royal College of Art London.
2001 - 2004: BA Hon’s Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and Design.
2000 - 2001: Art and Design Foundation National Diploma at Trowbridge (now called The Wiltshire College)
CURATED / COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS:
12 / 2023: Object | Multiple - Exhibition at The Penn Theatre (London)
11 / 2023: Object | Multiple - Bound Book Arts Fair (Manchester)
02 / 2023: Object | Multiple - Camberwell Multiples Fair
08 / 2022: Object | Multiple - online platform for artist multiples
02 / 2020: SWAP Editions 5 : ISLAND Creekside Projects (London)
02 / 2020: ANOMALY – Duo exhibition with Mark Scott-Wood Creekside Projects (London)
02 / 2020: Art You An Island? Swap Editions virtual project with www.Skelf.org.uk
03 / 2019: SWAP Editions 4 : BREX-kit – Creekside Projects (London)
09 / 2018: Labour Exchange – Exhibition of 10 artists – Creekside Projects (London)
04 / 2018: SWAP Editions 3 : ARTIST AS MACHINE – New Shoreditch Theatre
01 / 2018: The Prosumer Galleries – The Great Medical Disaster (Manchester)
09 / 2017: SWAP Editions 2 : TRADE - Art licks / Set projects Bermondsey
03 / 2017: AD HOC : SWAP Editions - Castor Projects (London)
06 / 2016: Power In The Land X10 film screening – Mostyn Gallery (Llandudno)
10 / 2015: POWER IN THE LAND X10 film screening - Modern Art (Oxford)
05 / 2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD 2 - Project Number (London)
02 / 2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD - Residency and exhibition Rogue Studios Project Space (Manchester)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
03 / 2014: ROBIN TARBET SELECTED WORKS AT THE BLUECOAT - Upper Vide Gallery (Liverpool)
10 / 2012: MONITORED LANDSCAPE - Black Swan Arts Centre Frome (Somerset)
01 / 2010: INDIRECT LAND - Trafo Gallery (Budapest)
10 / 2007: MONITORED LANDSCAPE No.9 - Outpost Gallery (Norwich)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
01 / 2023: UNCERTAIN OBJECTS : PART 1 - Shop Work, Frome (Somerset)
11 / 2023: LET THEM EAT CAKE - Bad Art Presents / Soho (London)
05 / 2023: RADIANT OBJECTS - Fringe Arts Bath Festival (Bath)
02 / 2023: STAGE LLE PROJECTS @ Kingsgate Project Space (London)
08 / 2022: TESTING GROUNDS - Filet Space (London)
02 / 2022: MELTDOWN - Ridley Road Project Space - Hackney (London)
10 / 2019: HUMDRUM – The Store Gallery - Dulwich College (London)
01 / 2019: MADELEINE – Patrick Heide Gallery (London)
02 / 2017: POWER IN THE LAND – Bay Art (Cardiff)
01 / 2017: THE COLLECTIVISTS – Brand Library Art Gallery (Los Angeles)
05 / 2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Aberystwyth)
02 / 2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Oriel Davies Gallery (Powys)
09 / 2015: HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS – Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery (London)
08 / 2014: CITIES OF ASH – G39 Gallery (Cardiff)
03 / 2014: SPECULATIVE FUTURES - A-Side B-Side Gallery (London)
11 / 2013: ALTER // SHIFT // CONTROL – The Bermondsey Projects (London)
10 / 2013: THE HANOVER PROJECT – University of Central Lancashire
05 / 2013: THE TOMORROW PEOPLE – Elevator Gallery (London)
08 / 2012: PING PONG TABLE - Commission permanently installed in Soho Square (London)
06 / 2012: RA SUMMER SHOW 2012 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
04 / 2012: IMPRINT - Kingston University Platform Gallery (London)
01 / 2012: BLACK SWAN OPEN - Awarded Special Commendation (Frome)
06 / 2011: RA SUMMER SHOW 2011 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05 / 2010: CU - at Future Everything Festival (Manchester)
09 / 2009: PAPER CITY : URBAN UTOPIAS - at the Royal Academy of Arts (London)
07 / 2009: EAST INTERNATIONAL - Norwich University College of Art (Norwich)
05 / 2009: FIRST SHOW - Achromat Gallery (Brighton)
06 / 2008: CAMBERWELL GREEN - House Gallery / Camberwell Arts Festival (London)
05 / 2008: SALIVATE - Anglia Square Shopping Centre (Norwich)
04 / 2007: TRANSFORMER - Exhibition & Symposium Woburn Research Centre (london)
03 / 2007: IS THE WORLD OURS? - Bargate Monument Gallery (Southampton)
03 / 2007: [DOT] PARTY - The Hayward Gallery (London)
06 / 2006: RA SUMMER SHOW 2006 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05 / 2006: GENERATION - Show One Royal College of Art (London)
04 / 2006: PLATFORM FOR ART - Various Tube Locations (London)
02 / 2006: LETS RIOT - Café Gallery Projects (London)
01 / 2006: ART BELOW ZERO - The Westbourne Studios (London)
12 / 2005: SEEING THE LIGHT - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
07 / 2005: ENNON & CO - Group show in office space (London)
09 / 2004: NORWICH FRINGE FESTIVAL - Balley Shoe Factory (Norwich)
08 / 2004: EYE TEST - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
AWARDS / FELLOWSHIPS:
10 / 2023: MRSS at The Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
09 / 2006: THE STANLEY PICKER TUTORSHIP IN FINE ART (Print) at Kingston University.
GRANTS / COMMISSIONS / RESIDENCIES:
03 / 2024: EILEAN SHONA - Royal Society of Sculptors Residency (Scotland)
07 / 2015: ESXLA International – Residency July 2015 (Los Angeles)
05 / 2013: (Final Shortlist) The Contemporary Art Fellowship at The Rome School
06 / 2012: London Cultural Olympics - Table Tennis Table commission for Ping London.
01 / 2009: Grants for the Arts – Individual Lottery Grant for Monitored Landscape Series