Minimal and quiet, Brian Robertson’s artworks seem to be both a homage to cubism and other various abstract art movements, and to our curious obsession with space and the universe. Going against typical physiognomy, the LA-based artist dissembles people and objects with clean acrylic shapes and lines juxtaposed with controlled dashes of spray paint. Looking closer, you’ll also notice that various portals appear in his work — a black hole doorway to a starry universe, a triangular cut-out through which a blue line travels — perhaps a commentary on the loneliness of the human condition and the vast wonder of the universe. On a more humorous level, Robertson names every one of his people or objects with tongue-in-cheek titles such as Mr Pot-Head Worm-Mouth or Mr Yellow-Brick Shit-House.
Much like the core value of individualism in the abstract art movement, each of Robertson’s character-based artworks are unique, playfully emitting their own personality quirks: super-confident, mysterious, hungry, lonely, confused. His landscapes and more abstract pieces, however, speak on a larger scale of the inner self, the world and universe around us, and the unknown. Currently, Robertson’s work is on view at Blackbook Gallery in Denver in his two-man show, “Meta Structures,” with Max Kauffman.
Toronto painter 
Russia-born, New York-based artist 