Part Fact, Part Aspect
Robin Crookall at Real Art Ways

Real Art Ways presents a solo exhibition of new work by 2020 Real Art Award recipient Robin Crookall. 

 Living somewhere between traditional photography and sculpture, Crookall creates deceivingly simple studies of architectural spaces. Interested in mid-century modernism and the “All-American” archetype, Crookall creates complicated sets out of unsophisticated materials like cardboard, hot glue, and plastic wrap, then photographs these scenes. The resulting black and white images seem like formal exploration of geometry and architecture until the viewer takes a closer look to see the truth of the image. 

Artist Talk: Sunday, April 18 from 2:30 – 3:30 PM EST.

To learn more and register for the talk, click here.

From her artist statement:

“Focusing on subjects like the corner of a room or the facade of a house, the images showcase environments that are at once familiar and safe, underwhelming and routine, creating something broadly accessible. What the audience sets out to experience in the photograph changes in perspective from visualizing the subject as an actual photographed place as opposed to seeing what is really its scale-model counterpart. The experience results in the viewer questioning the preexisting notions of reality, memory, and place. Complex abstractions result in the intersection and overlap of those perceptions. The photograph is the ideal pedestal for these concepts, for its singular capacity for both depiction and deception. If you can’t trust your own eyes, then you can’t trust your own definition of place. And where are you supposed to exist at the plane of the image if all that grounds you, is slowly dissolving away?”

Click Here for the exhibition catalogue, featuring an essay by Aude Jomini.

About The Artist:

Robin Crookall is a 2021 finalist in The Print Centers, 95th Annual International Competition. In fall 2020 she completed a residency and solo show at Penumbra Foundation in New York City. Crookall is a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in photography from The New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2016, Crookall received her MFA from New York University. In 2015 she completed a solo show at Seattle’s 4Culture Gallery and her post bacc at the University of Montana. Crookall is currently living in Brooklyn and working on a self-published book of images.

Artist Reception:

A joint reception will be held on Sunday, January 31 from 1-3 PM along with artist Catalina Ouyang and their solo exhibit THE SIREN. Visitors will be required to wear masks at all times and remain 6 feet apart from those not in your party. Learn about all the steps we have taken to prepare and our new procedures HERE. 

The 2020 Real Art Awards is supported in part by:

An award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Visual arts at Real Art Ways is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for Contemporary Art.

 Image caption: Outside Looking In, 2020 (Part 1 of Diptych) Pigment Print, 29 x 44 inches

Welcoming You Back Safely:

As you return to our physical space, your health and safety is our top priority. To learn about all the steps we have taken to prepare and our new procedures visit our Welcoming You Back page.