Robin Tarbet MRSS

Robin Tarbet studied at the Royal College of Art and works from a studio in Woolwich. Tarbet’s approach uses mould-making and ad-hoc casting processes together with collecting and gathering the physical material of everyday stuff. He is interested in the ‘find’ and ‘display’ as a methodology for making, and how an often chance encounter with discarded material triggers his fascination in themes including data, systems, science fiction, factories, architecture and ancient monuments. His work features surfaces and transformations using recognisable things in unfamiliar situations. Fragments and detritus left behind that often go unnoticed get repurposed into things that elevate decay and celebrate spectacular failure.

Tarbet explores how information can be transferred directly by moulding from functioning or real things, which he reconfigures as sculptures and reliefs. He quickly saw the appeal with taking sculptural processes outside of the studio and his practice incorporates a performative ‘working in the field’ approach. He has made sculptures from casts made in challenging and obscure situations, from moulding an ice cream Viennetta using the freezer in his shared flat - to a residency at a working nuclear power station. His most recent project involves making plaster cast moulds of large dead jellyfish washed up on the shores of north Wales.

As well as regularly exhibiting, Tarbet sometimes fabricates sculpture for other artists, and as a Senior Lecturer has taught Fine Art across many universities. He is a former Trustee Director of Creekside Artists, the founder of Swap Editions a project exploring artist-to-artist dialogue and alternative forms of exchange, and in 2022 established object|multiple an artist-led platform and store with Duncan Wooldridge.