SKY ASUNDER

[If you are interested in purchasing a work, please contact the gallery for more information.]

UPPER MARKET GALLERY is pleased to present Sky Asunder, a solo exhibition of new and collected works by Sam Robbins.

Sky Asunder is a multidisciplinary exhibition of selected works in a range of media and subject matter, in an effort to capture multitudes of lived experience.

While the show is comprised of paintings, prints, photographs, and objects, much of the work is grounded in drawing. I draw a lot, often from life, mainly line drawings; these lean images stand both on their own as finished pieces and establish frameworks for the larger, more complex paintings and prints. I rely upon and emphasize a spare line in attempts to capture the wonderful immediacy of moments lived. Sunbeams askance, intimate eyes, the perfect pose; friends and plants and animals; objects magic-imbued; another glance at my watch. Can I keep it all?

For a long time I've been enchanted by the ancient Egyptian myth of the sun god, Ra, who travels daily across the sky from east to west in his blazing solar vessel. He rows his sun ship from horizon to horizon, gifting light and form to the beings and objects beneath the pale expanse. Filled with the possibility of light and life, I mirror his travels, accept his radiant tender, and offer my own. Line, form, and color comprise my vessel—it safely carries me through the waking world with all the people, places, and things it witnesses. Properly sun-shod, I float the quotidian, and rend the sky asunder.

—Sam Robbins

San Francisco, CA

2023