Artist's Statement:

The focus of my work is color. Color as painting. Color as sculpture. Creating the work allows me to translate much of the stimulation (visual, audio, emotional) that I take in from living into tangible forms.

Often people respond to my work as landscape with a topographical perspective (as if they were looking down from above). The texture of the colors and the groupings of marks add a strong narrative sense to the work.

I liken the creation of my work to a conversation. I approach the blank surface with a vocabulary (line, form, color). I have no set idea (sketch) of what I want the completed work to look like. As I commit myself to the work (by applying color) a rapport develops between the painting/sculpture and myself.

Selections from

 A Reunion:

Selections from: 

A Span in Time

Transforming the Elements
Mixed media on paper
19 1/2 x 23 1/2"

Interior
Mixed media on paper
26 1/2 x 30"

Space Makes its Way I
Acrylic on canvas and wood
16 3/4 x 21"

Space Makes Its Way II
Acrylic on canvas and wood
16 3/4 x 21"

Looking Towards Morandi III
Acrylic on canvas and wood
16 3/4 x 21"

Essence of Cubism
Mixed media on paper
23 x 27"

Coming/Going
Acrylic on paper
21 x 26 1/2"

Looking Towards Morandi I
Acrylic on canvas and wood
16 3/4 x 21"

Space Makes Its Way III
Acrylic on canvas and wood
16 3/4 x 21"

Looking Towards Morandi IV
Mixed media on paper
23 x 29"

Exhibitions:

Biography

A native of California. Robert McBride was educated at the University of California at Berkeley where he initially majored in classics, studying Greek and Latin. His first introductory drawing class put an end to the classics, and he immersed himself in the study of art. After receiving his B.A. in painting from Berkeley, he moved to New York and earned an M.F.A. at Hunter College.

McBride continues to use New York City as his base where he is a founding member of P.S 122 (Painting Space), an alternative art space in an old school building in Manhattan's Lower East Side. While enjoying New York as a "bigger than life library," McBride realizes the creative limitations of the city. A major charge to his creative batteries comes from his travels and periods spent in Vermont.

He readily admits to living the artist stereotype: studio in the East Village and an apartment in Greenwich Village (both five floor walk-ups). His financial portfolio doesn't include a C.D. or an IRA, but instead boasts a wealth of experience from his travels, dividing his time between Holland, Paris, Italy and the U.S.

He is a Renaissance man who treats the world as his home, and his travels are an exploration. Openness, chance, and desire are McBride's definition of living. His rewards are seeing art and meeting artists in their own environment. In 1988, he exchanged his studio and apartment with a Dutch artist. From this evolved his Rotterdam exhibition in 1991. From a chance meeting in a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, came a lecture offer at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 1992, he spent a month in Cortona, a hill town in southern Tuscany, and was offered an exhibition for the following summer.

In 1997, McBride sought to extend his belief in the transformative power of the arts by founding the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project (RAMP). The mission of RAMP is to deploy the arts to revitalize the historic mill town of Bellows Falls, Vermont, both culturally and economically. As RAMP's Director since its inception, McBride has developed effective partnerships with the Bread and Puppet Theater Company, the Yellow Barn Music Festival Series, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation. Significant projects include the development of the landmark Exner building to provide ten living/work spaces for artists, six retail spaces focusing on the arts and a mural project. For more information. please visit RAMP's web site: www.ramp-vt.org.