Almost There: Paul Robas

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   

But I have promises to keep,   

And miles to go before I sleep,   

And miles to go before I sleep. 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Frost

A painting that feels like a picture of a family member you never had. Longing eyes that look out in mourning, or a tired body and the way it slumps over your grandmother's chair. The celebratory walk your uncle had that day, when he got too drunk. Thinking about the lives of these people brings you into your body. It turns your life into a story told by those who will come after you. Placing yourself into the shoes of everyone close to you brings out a sublime feeling of the vastness of all of our lives.

Paul Robas embraces quiet moments, removed from time and resting in stillness. The Vienna-based Romanian artist contemplates the finitude of human existence in his work. He holds onto a moment and distorts it into a universal experience; photographs of friends, moments of lighting, and fragmented imagery create a particular distant familiarity. These paintings prompt you to reflect on how moments are remembered, the times you have already lived through, the fleeting present, and the future that is yet to come.

The paintings remove context by having a selective frame; only fragments of the subject are available, creating an unnerving tension in the stillness of the painting. Employed through painting in a similar way to how the Pictures Generation used the lens of a camera. At the same time, a laugh can become a scream, or a deep slumber can become a death rattle. The piece "Sideline" creates a feeling of apprehension. The young man looks up with what could only be called expectation. At the same time, his eyes hold hope as well as fear. There is something in the place of the viewer that holds his gaze. With no definitive clues, the work remains unsteady. 

Alongside the portraiture, Robas includes vignette-like still life paintings that are both nostalgic and foreboding. Like the portraits, they exist in isolation and without context, allowing the connotations of the objects to paint the back of your mind. Dice, chandeliers, rising smoke, and a single rose exist as concrete details that seem to connect to the narratives of the portraits. Each item holds a multitude of possibilities for what it could signify, but the timelessness of them gives no further identity to the scene.

Make Room is proud to present Almost There, a solo exhibition by Romanian artist Paul Robas, where he explores the temporality of life through imagery that feels at the same time distant and familiar. Painted in a way that makes them both clear and lifelike, but at the same time holding onto a painterly brush stroke that accentuates the emotional imagery.