About Heather Robinson

I’ve been painting since 2001, before which I worked as a web and graphic designer. My educational background is in architecture, which I chose not to pursue as a career, but which initially sparked the fascination with ornament and pattern that I bring to my artwork. I paint in my home in the Sunset area of San Francisco, California, which is also inhabited by several people, a couple of cats and an unknown number of Sea Monkeys.

About the Ornamental Nudes

During my architectural and design studies, I became fascinated with ornament and patterns. My interests lie with how ornamentation has been traditionally applied to objects to enhance their beauty. The stylized depiction of the female form has also often been used as ornamentation.

In these paintings, I incorporate images of classical female nudes with antique textile patterns. The contours of the human figure interact with the lines that form the pattern, reducing the depiction of the figure to the level of the ornament. I then superimpose these linear, graphic representations upon richly layered ornate foundations. I embed in the paintings materials used for decoration, such as flowers, vintage cigarette cards, printed papers, and henna patterns, and decorative techniques such as stenciling and gilding. Through the union of images, materials and techniques, I seek to create works of sensual beauty, and to explore the language of embellishment and the historic idea of the female figure as decoration.

About the "Internal Affairs" series

A series of mixed-media paintings of women’s torsos, these pieces are about the body’s ability to manifest feelings and retain memories. They speak to the center of the body as the core of a being, rather than the head and brain. If one were to take a cross-section of a woman, I imagine one might find this sort of emotional anatomy, consisting of internal monologues and the marks left by passing moments. The works together form a symbolic diary of small-but-significant personal events and emotional states.

About the nature of my paintings

All my artwork is supported by acid-free panel. When works are framed, they are done so using acid-free and UV-filtering materials to protect the work and ensure its longevity. Some materials used in my paintings, such as flowers and vintage papers, may not be strictly archival. I have done my best to preserve these objects, but there is a chance that they may change appearance slightly over the long term. As with all paintings, it's important to keep them away from direct sunlight.