Robert Kinmont describes art as an expression of human existence, and his photographic and sculptural works provide a very personal record of the artist himself. They are intricately interwoven with the exceptional landscape of northern California, an area which he knows intimately, where he grew up, lived for many years, and one that has fundamentally shaped who he is. Kinmont has employed this material, visual, and emotional repository in his remarkably lucid and original works, which are all statements made by the artist relating to his own intensely personal sensual perceptions and experiences. By working with the familiar materials all around him he produces works that are cheerful and solidly grounded while also telling a tale of adventure, wilderness, and authenticity. His simple but powerful use of gesture inspires us to reflect on human existence, global equilibrium, and each person’s relationship to their homeland and to nature itself.
Robert Kinmont was born in 1937 in Los Angeles and now lives in Sonoma, California. After completing his art degree he founded his own art school, called Coyote, in the small town of Bishop. From the 1980s onwards, when he started earning a living as a carpenter and devoted himself to Zen Buddhism, his artistic work was put on hold. Yet his experiences during this long hiatus ultimately led him back to art, seeking ways of expressing his thoughts. His work has most recently been shown in solo exhibitions at Kunsthaus Glarus, RaebervonStenglin, and Alexander and Bonin, as well as in the group exhibition Ends of the Earth at Munich’s Haus der Kunst. Measure at Künstlerhaus Bremen is Robert Kinmont’s first solo exhibition in Germany.