ARTIST STATEMENT

Born and raised in Colorado, Robert Grimes graduated from Indiana University in 1967 with an MFA in sculpture. Since then he has worked as an instructor, a designer, a jeweler, and an illustrator, and always as an active fine artist.

The attention to detail he cultivated as a jeweler serves him well as a sculptor. Grimes alternates between rounded shapes painstakingly carved out of solid wood and cross-hatched areas of angular activity reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.” He paints his freshly-hewn surfaces in oils and further modifies them with chiseled lines and areas of bas-relief. His pieces often take months to complete; the artist works on several projects simultaneously employing both subtractive and additive processes.

His compositions seem to exist on several different time planes simultaneously. As a lifelong student of the arts, Grimes displays in his work a vital appreciation for both the history and philosophies of art, as well as for old, powerful objects themselves.

“I always thought if I hadn’t become an artist I would have been an archaeologist,” Grimes explains. “But since I don’t have the time or resources to find these old things, I create them myself. A lot of what you see here comes from the archaeophile in me.”

Ancient patterns borrowed from everyone from the Greeks to the Haida emerge in his recent pieces and the fact that they spring forth from once-living wood adds another dimension, suggesting that the object is at once primitive and yet elaborate.

While there is a sense of storytelling taking place, the characters are only vaguely familiar and even the artist himself isn’t sure while carving where the piece is going or how it might end up. He’s comfortable with both his intuitive process and the ambiguity of knowing nothing for certain:

“At times being ‘lost’ can be more exciting than having a complete understanding of something. Working my way through chaos has its merits. A kind of “game” if you will, providing delight in the discovery of new structures and experiences out of the disorder.”

EDUCATION

1964-67     -MFA in sculpture from Indiana University, Blooming, IN. Graduate Assistant teaching basic design to freshman under George Sadek, Director of the Design Department.  Studied sculpture under Jean-Paul Darriau; experimented with sculptural forms in wood, bronze, plaster and welded steel.  In 1967 received a Graduate Fellowship.

1960-64     -BFA in painting from the University of Denver.  Full ride scholarship for athletics and academics.  Instructors: Roger Kotoske, Robert Mangold, Vance Kirkland.

EXHIBITIONS

2015            -Featured Artist Show with Victoria Brace, The Art Spirit Gallery. Coeur d’Alene, ID

2014            -Featured Artist Show with Michael Horswill, The Art Spirit Gallery. Coeur d’Alene, ID

2013            -Featured Artist Show, The Art Spirit Gallery. Coeur d’Alene, ID

2012            -Featured Artist Show, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2011            -Featured Artist Show, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -“Illuminating the Subconscious”, Harold Balazs, Robert Grimes and Timothy C. Ely, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2010            -“New Works by 12 Artists”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2009            -“New Works by 12 Artists”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -Featured Artist Show, “The Carved line”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2008            -“Robert Grimes”, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA

                     -“New Works by 11 Artists”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID 

2007            -“New Works by 13 Artists on Friday the 13^th”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -Featured Artist Show, “Quicker than the Eye”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2006            -Featured Artist Show, “Dancing with the Eye”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene

2004            -Featured Artist Show, “Kidnapping the Muse”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene

2002            -Wampum Invitational, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane WA

                     -Featured Artist Show, “Expeditions”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID

2001            -Featured Artist Show, “Wood in Motion”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

                     -Inland Craft Warnings, Artist Invitational, Spokane, WA

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

2000            -Featured Artist Show, “Seeing Is Disbelieving”, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

                     -Group Show, Seven Artists Seven Decades, Lewis & Clark Center for Art & History, Lewiston, ID

1999            -One Man Retrospective Show, University of Montana, Missoula MT

                     -Small Artworks Invitational, The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

1998            -Featured Artist Show, “Fragments from the Esotarium” The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d’Alene ID

                     -Group Show, Kimzey Gallery, Seattle WA

                     -Group Show, Spectrum Gallery, Spokane WA

                     -Group Show, Spokane Art School, Spokane WA

1995            -Group Show, Gallery by the Lake, Coeur d’Alene, ID

1990            -Group Show, Vega Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA

1985            -One Man Show, Perimeters, Inc., Denver CO

1983            -One Man Show, Griffin Light Gallery, Denver

1977            -One Man Show, Lewd Jewels and Gallery, CO

                     -Penulticon Science Fiction Convention, Cosmopolitan Hotel, CO (First Place in painting)

1976            -Group Show, Sixteenth Street Gallery, Denver CO

1969            -Architects, Designers and Photographers Show, Richmond, VA (Honorable Mention in photography)

1967            -Master’s Thesis Show, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

1964            -Western Annual Exhibition, Denver Art Museum (Honorable Mention for welded steel sculpture)

1960-64      -“Own Your Own” Shows, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

EXPERIENCE

1998-Present -Full time devoted to fine art.  Artwork previous to 1998 was produced outside of day job.

1995-98     -Started and ran “Radius”, a goldsmith service, providing jewelry designs for the trade and public in Spokane, WA.

1985-94     -Jewelry designer for Dellani Jewelers in Santa Barbara, CA.  Produced preliminary sketches and designs, which were approved as wax models and cast in gold or silver.

1975-85     -Jewelry designer for El Rey Goldsmiths in Denver, CO.

1974           -Designed float for the city of Redmond, WA which won first prize at the World’s Fair in Spokane, WA.

1970-71     -Artist-designer for Special Effects, Inc., Morrison, CO.  Designed furniture and entry doors to be manufactured in polyurethane plastic.  Produced various objects for amusement parks and sculptures in fiberglass for outdoor advertising.

1969           -Temporary summer director for Hampton Institute’s Museum of African and American Indian artifacts.  Personal investigations in art explored the use of vacuum-formed acrylic in sculpture and various darkroom techniques in photography.

1967-70     -Instructor of Art at Hampton Institute, Hampton, VA. Taught basic design for art students, visual design for architectural students, drawing, sculpture, photography and introductory art history.