John Z. Robinson

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John Z. Robinson (born in Foxton May 25, 1953) is a New Zealand artist and jeweller. For the past 29 years he has lived in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Robinson completed a manufacturing jewellery apprenticeship with Max Wilson in Palmerston North in 1973. From 1978 to 1980 he attended Otago Polytechnic School of Art in Dunedin where he was tutored in painting by Walden Tucker and the English-born artist Bernard Holman. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts and returned to complete Honours in 1996.

Robinson has worked as a designer, jeweller, painter, print maker and sculptor. He is a colourist whose paintings (acrylic) and prints (linocut) are often figurative[1] though his prints often focus entirely purely on words, frequently with punning intent. His paintings tend to me impressionistic, whether they be landscapes and townscapes[2] or portraits[3].

Robinson's paintings and prints have been exhibited throughout New Zealand and works are included in the collections of the Hocken Library, the Manawatu Art Gallery, the Rotorua Museum and the Wallace Arts Trust. Robinson was awarded the William Hodges Fellowship and was artist-in-residence at the Southland Museum in Invercargill in 1998. In 2006 the Port Gallery in Port Chalmers featured a retrospective of thirty years of his work in a show entitled John Z Robinson. A Survey of Paintings and Prints.

Robinson has exhibited his paintings in New York and his jewellery has been shown in Japan, New Zealand and the United States, most notably at the Bead International in Athens, Ohio in 2000. From 18 August 2007 until February 2010 his jewellery will be featured in an exhibition entitled The Scots in New Zealand at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

Robinson's painting and print work has been the feature of two books - Other Men's Flowers. Portraits by John Z. Robinson, which concentrates on close up portraits of men, each paired with a painting of a flower, and Lake Warhola Soup - The Word-Prints of J. Z. Robinson, which focuses entirely on Robinson's punning monochromatic linocuts.

[edit] References

  1. ^ McGahey 2000, p. 213,
  2. ^ Dignan, J., Memento mori, in Otago Daily Times, 7 December 2006.
  3. ^ Dignan, J., Flowers and masculinity prove a potent mix, in Otago Daily Times, 4 September 2003.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Eggleton, D. Hot Gossip and Holy Ground. John Z. Robinson Might be the Cure for Repression in New Zealand Listener, 27 May, 2006 - 2 June, 2006, Vol. 204, No. 3446.
  • Graczer, P. B. (2003) Other Men's Flowers. Portraits by John Z. Robinson., Auckland. ISBN 0-473-09718-4. (Reprinted as Of Aztecs, Azaleas and Acquaintances in Lino, Issue No. 6, 2004, pp.94-99).
  • Graczer, P. B. (2004) Lake Warhola Soup. The Word-Prints of J. Z. Robinson. Auckland. ISBN 0-476-01072-1.
  • Hardie, C. (2006) John Z. Robinson: A Survey of Paintings and Prints. Port Gallery, Port Chalmers, 7 April-27 May 2006. Port Chalmers, NZ: Port Gallery.
  • McCluskey, M. (2001) A Noble Piece: Contemporary Jewellery Constructed from Noble Metals and Issues. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Jewellery at Lure Works, Dunedin, New Zealand, 3-15 December, 2001. Dunedin: Lure Works Limited.
  • McGahey, K. (2000) The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists, Painters, Printmakers, Sculptors. Wellington: Gilt Edge Publishing. ISBN 0-473-05802-2.
  • The Otago Arts Trust (2002) Otago Arts Guide, Art Roads of Otago. Dunedin: Otago Arts Trust. ISBN 0-473-08054-0.
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