Tony Robbin
Biography:
Tony Robbin has had over 25 solo exhibitions of his painting and sculpture since his debut at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1974, and been included in over 100 group exhibitions in 12 countries. Tony Robbin: A Retrospective was shown at the Orlando Museum in 2011, and reprieved at the Foosaner Art Museum in 2018. Robbin is featured in the retrospectives of the P & D movement at LAMOCA and the Hessel Museum, as well as those at le Consortium Dijon/ MAMCO Geneva, and in the catalogues of those exhibitions. David Brody apprised Robbin’s work in the recent essay
Tony Robbin holds the patent for the application of Quasicrystal geometry to architecture, and has implemented this geometry for a large-scale architectural sculpture at the Danish Technical University in Lyngby, Denmark, as well as one for the city of Jacksonville, Florida.
Tony Robbin's book Shadows of Reality, was published by Yale University Press (YUP) in 2006, which argues that four-dimensional projective geometry is the mathematical system best suited to describe reality. He is also the author of the book Engineering a New Architecture, YUP in 1996, and also the book Fourfield: Computers, Art & the Fourth Dimension, published in 1992 by Bulfinch Press/ Little, Brown & Company. His 2011 memoir Mood Swings, a Painter's Life, is a Kindle book. Also a Kindle book is Essays 1969-2016. He has written 28 papers and articles, mostly for peer review publications, and lectured to professional organizations and university departments of art, physics, mathematics, computer science, architecture, and engineering in the United States, in Europe and Japan, including engineering society meetings in Atlanta, Copenhagen, Guilford, and Budapest.
Tony Robbin is a pioneer in the computer visualization of four-dimensional geometry. Since 1981, his realtime rotation programs of four-dimensional figures have been useful for obtaining an intuitive feel for four-dimensional and quasicrystal space.
Résumé:
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 “Braiding Space” Liberal Arts, Roxbury
2018 “Tony Robbin: A Retrospective, 1977 – 2018” The Foosaner Museum of Art
2013 “New Paintings Old Drawings” Allen and Judy Freedman, Charlotte Valley Farms
2011 “A Retrospective: 1970 to 2010” Orlando Museum of Art
2011 Kuros Gallery, New York.
2006 Tony Robbin, “Paintings and Digital Prints,” Fordham University, New York
2006 Tony Robbin, Painting and Digital prints, AAAS, Washington D.C.
2006 Misher Scholar and exhibition, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia
1993 American Asc. Advancement of Science, Boston Meeting
1992 The Williams Gallery, Princeton
1992 Fordham University, New York City
1992 American Asc. Advancement of Science, Washington l988 Tibor de Nagy, New York
l987 Broadway Windows, New York
1987 OK South Gallery, Miami
1985 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1984 Davis/McClain Gallery, Houston
1984 The General Eclectic Research and Development Center, Schenectady
1983 McNay Art Institute, San Antonio
1983 Columbia Museum of Art and Science, Columbia, S.C.
1983 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1983 Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando
1983 Louise Peterson Gallery, Winter Park
1982 Sewall Art Gallery, Houston
1981 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1980 Le Nouveau Musee. Lyon l980 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1979 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1978 Galerie Cadot, Paris
1978 Alexandra Monet, Brussels
1977 Alessandra Gallery, New York
1976 Gallerie Cadot, Paris
1974 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
COMMISSIONS AND LARGE SCALE WORKS
2003-4 Quasicrystal, Municipal Library, Jacksonville, Florida
1992-3 Quasicrystal Dome, a 30 ft high interior structure for COAST in Copenhagen, Denmark
1984 Southeast Bank, a 25 by 5 ft mural
1983 United Bank, Houston, a 15 by 45 ft mural
1982 Fourfield, a 28 by 8.5 ft mural, General Electric Company.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019-2020 Lessons in Promiscuity: Pattern and Decoration in American art 1972- Bard Hessel
Museum.
2019-2020 Lessons in Promiscuity: Pattern and Decoration in American art 1972- Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art.
2019 Painting & Decoration & Crime” Le Consortium, Dijon
2019 Emergence/Divergence The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville
2018-19 Painting & Decoration & Crime” MAMCO (Museum of Modern and Contemporary
Art) Geneva.
2015-6 From the Permanent Collection, The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville
2013 Lesley Heller Gallery, New York
2008-9 Imaging by the Numbers, A Historical View of the Computer Print, the
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston.
2008 Pattern and Decoration, an Ideal Vision in American Art, 1975-12985, Hudson River
Museum, Yonkers.
2008 Knotting Mathematics and Art, Tampa
2006 Ten Plus Ten, Revisiting Pattern and Decoration, University of Florida, Ganesville
2003 Math/Art in Harlem
2002 Math Art/ Art Math, Selby Gallery , Ringling School of Art and Design
2000 Art & Mathematics 2000, The Cooper Union
1996 Building for the Future, Istanbul Museum
1995 Contemporary Developments in Design Science
1993 Ars (dis)Symmetrica, Viztorony Gallery, Budapest
1992 ACM/Siggraph, Chicago
1992 The Williams Collection, Princeton
1991 Bronx Museum of the Arts
1991 Sangre de Cristo Art Center, Pueblo
1990 The Grid: Organization and Idea, The Ben Sahn Gallery, William Paterson State College
1989 Structure of Symmetry, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1989 Kaos, Via Chicago Academy of Science
1988 Systems and Abstraction, Hunter College Gallery
1988 Digital Explorations, Tibor de Nagy Gallery
1987-8 The History of 3-D in art and popular Culture, Dayton Art Inst.
1987-8 Computers and Art, five venues in USA including: The IBM Galley, New York
The Everson Museum, Syracuse
l986 Tibor de Nagy, New York
1983-4 Space Complex, five venues in Great Britain including
The Third Eye Center, Glasgow
l983-4 Concepts in Construction, ten venues in USA including
Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase
1984 New American Painting, Huntington Art Gallery, Austin l983 Offset Prints, Lehigh University Gallery
l982 The Pattern Principle, Ohio University, Lancaster
1982 Art Sources, Jacksonville
l982 Currents: a New Mannerism, USF Galleries, Tampa
l981 Currents: a New Mannerism, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville l980 New York Pattern Show, Merwin Gallery, Bloomington
l980 Thirty American Artist, Hotel de Ville, Rennes l980 Museum Choice, Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando
1980 Museum Choice, Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville
1979 Galerie Liatowitsch, Basel, Switzerland
1979 "Persistent Pattern", Andre Zarre Gallery, New York
1979 The Jasper Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1979 "Patterns Plus", Dayton Art Museum, Ohio
1979 "Patterning Painting ", Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1979 "Patterning Painting" , American Center ,Paris, France
1979 Galerie Bauna, Amsterdam
1979 "Patterned Space, the 2nd through the 4th Dimensions",
1979 Art Sources, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida
1979 "Subject: Space", Pratt Institute Gallery and Pratt
Manhattan Center Gallery, New York
l979 Four New York Artists", Two Plus Gallery, Denver ,Colorado
1979 "Pattern", Members' Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
1978 Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1978 Iran-America Society, Teheran, Iran
1978 The Jasper Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1978 Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston, Texas
1978 "Pattern on Paper", Gladstone/Villani Gallery, New York
1978 "Decorative Art: Recent Works", Douglas College Art Gallery
1978 Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1977 "Pattern Painting at P.S. l", P.S. l, Long Island City, Queens, New York
1977 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
1977 Organization of Independent Artists, New York
1977 Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York
l977 "Critic's Choice", Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York l977 Gallery Tanit, Munich, West Germany
l977 Galerie Cadot, Paris, France
1976 S.A. Contemporary Alexandre Monett, Grand Hornu, Mons, Belgium l976 O.K. Harris, New York
l976 "Ten Approaches to the Decorative", Alessandra Gallery, New York
l976 "Drawings", Gallery Litho, Teheran, Iran
1976 Iran-America Society, Teheran, Iran
1975 Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut
1975 The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
1975 Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Canada
1975 Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York
1975 "Painting and Sculpture Today", Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indiana
1973 Webb and Parsons Gallery, Bedford, New York
1973 Auction for Nicaragua, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York
1973 "1973 Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary American Art",
1973 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1972 470 Parker Street Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1972 Paley and Lowe Gallery, New York
1972 "1972 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1972 The New Gallery, Celveland, Ohio
1972 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
1972 Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1972 Trenton State College Gallery, Trenton, New Jersey l971 Bykert Gallery, New York
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Block Museum of Art
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin Chrysler Museum, Norfolk College of Worster Art Museum
Delaware State Museum, Wilmington
The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville
Kyoto University
Newberger Museum, Purchase
Orlando Museum of Art
Polk Museum, Lakeland Florida
Whitney Museum, New York
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Telephone and Telegraph
ArtCo Corporation
Atlantic Richfield Corporation
Chase Manhattan Bank Coca Cola Usa Corporation General Electric Corporation General Reinsurance Corporation
IBM Corporation
Kansas City Bank
New York Hospital Corporation North Carolina National Bank Phillips Brothers
Prudential Insurance Sheraton Corporation Siemens-Allis Corporation Sony Corporation SouthEast Bank
Thomas and Betts Corporation Tupperware Corporation United Bank of Huston
GRANTS AND AWARDS
1995 Grahm Foundation for the Fine Arts
1991-4 Center for Art Science and Technology, Danish Technical University
1989 National Science Foundation Grant
l975 Artist Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts
LECTURES AND PAPERS GIVEN
1970 & 1983 Bard College, Undergraduate Art Department
1979 The New School, Undergraduate Art History
1983 University of Texas at Austin, Undergraduate Art History
1986 NYC-SIGRAPH/NYU/New York Academy of Science," Computer Graphics 2"
1987 American Cybernetics Society, University of Illinois
1988 The School of Visual Arts, Graduate Computer Science
1989 Columbia University, Graduate School of Art
1989 Hungarian Academy of Science,"Structure of Symmetry" Symposium
1989 Franklin & Marshall College, Mathematics Department
1990 Seisa-Computer Art, Groningen, Holland
1990 University of Delft, Department of Civil Engineering
1990 Royal Academy of Architecture, Copenhagen, Department of Structural Science
1990 Arttransition, MIT
1991 Trinity College, Hartford, Philosophy of Science, and Mathematics
1991 IASS, Copenhagen, Society of Professional Engineers
1991 Seminar on Nordic Architecture, Royal Academy, Copenhagen
1992 College Art Association, session on Computer art.
1992 SUNY/Albany, Conference on Mathematics and Art
1992 Montclair State University, Graduate School of Art
1992 New Jersey Institute of Technology
1992 Smith College, Department of Mathematics
1992 International Sculpture Conference, Philadelphia
1992 Computer Art Conference, New York
1992 Symmetry Society/Synergetics Institute, Hiroshima
1993 Symposium, The Center for Arts & Technology, Connecticut College
1993 The National Super Computer Geometry Center, Minneapolis.
1993 Ball State University, Department of Mathematics.
1993 New Jersey Institute of Technology, Humanities Honors.
1994 College Art Association, New York
1994 IASS Engineering Society, Atlanta
2000 Department of Architecture California Polytech
2000 College Art Association
2000 Department of Mathematics, University of South Alabama
2000 Graduate School of Architecture, Miami University, Oxford Ohio
2002 Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art and Design
2005 Society for Literature and Science, Austin
2006 Society for Literature and Science, New York
2006 Beckman Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana
2006 Misher Lectures, University of the Sciences, Philadelphia
2007 Physics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville
2007 Mathematics Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham
2007 Plenary speaker, Conference on Low Dimensional Topology, Tampa
2013 Engineering Conference, IASS, Seville.