KEVIN ROBERTS
(b. 1965, Rustenburg, South Africa)

Kevin Roberts was born in 1965 in Rustenburg, South Africa. His serene, balanced and carefully constructed paintings and sculptures have received widespread acclaim. Winner of several awards with his distinctive style of rhythmic patterns and recurring symbols, he is one of South Africa’s most admired artists. He lived and worked in Johannesburg, lecturing part-time on painting and ceramics around Pretoria. Kevin sadly passed away in 2009. 

Artist´s Statement
"People are exposed to an incredible amount of visual information every day. What I intend to do with my painting is to re-awaken within the viewer the rewarding and pleasurable act of looking at a unique, rich and considered two-dimensional object.

It is my hope that the paintings function on many levels, from the formal to the conceptual. The act of putting the painting together and the poetic marriage of this to the imagery are to me an act of being and learning, more than finding quick solutions or tricks to solve the visual problems often confronted in painting. For this reason I can only produce a few paintings a year, as they take as long as they take.

Given that we are so saturated with visual information, one of the questions I always ask myself is if the universe really needs another image, to be absorbed. I balance this against my obsession to ´Be´ through making. The end result is hopefully an object that can be added to in terms of its meanings and taken in slowly and meditatively over a long time." 

Critical Acclaim 
‘Kevin Roberts affirms the visual, or let us call it the ‘beautiful,’ as the essence of his art…. His paintings explore beauty, craftsmanship, pattern and image as part of an integrated whole. In this he too becomes part of a tapestry of painting stretching from the traditional to the contemporary.’

Ingrid Stevens, associate professor, Fine and Applied Arts, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa