Robin Dintiman

Lives and works in Barryville, NY

Artist statement

Using a combination of unique processes, I create artworks that reflect the transience of our corporeal lives, blurring the boundaries between the physical world and the spiritual world. Drawing from my own life, I aim to capture the ephemeral elements of human and natural existence that lie beneath the surface of reality. My multi-media works create visceral response in a viewer, mirroring the grace needed to face loss in dark hours and the process of burrowing beneath thin veneers of memory to reveal the rich yet fragile elements of human existence. Consistent throughout all my work is a focus on what I hold to be our most complex of human syntax: why things die and how our memory embraces this process of transition. In my environments, dead tree branches are propped against chairs/walls/prints, as seen in Materiality of Being Invisible (2023). Installations such as Arising Through Forest Thorns (2024) incorporate found clumps of brush in giant embracing circles that serve as support structures to hang shrouds of cloth. Through foraged natural materials, draped fabric and dramatic light/shadow, I evoke an uneasy awareness of our very real fragility. Many of my artworks are about personal loss of family members and loved ones. These works are memories of love and incorporate natural elements, reflecting the vulnerability I feel with trying to hold loss. For example, She Fell, He Disintegrated, Wild Black Flowers Rained Down (2018-19) is an installation to save a fallen...

Artwork