RO ROBERTSON
Ro Robertson (they/them) (b. 1984, Sunderland, UK) is based at Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, West Cornwall. Their practice spans sculpture, drawing, painting and video, mediums through which they explore the boundaries of the human body and its environment.
Finding inspiration in the ever-shifting flux of the tidal zone, Robertson centres their practice around the power of fluidity. Robertson often works site-specifically, conjuring multi-sensory experiences as a response to locations and landscapes. This approach informs their works on paper, which begin with the artist recalling sensations and memories associated with particular places, and working intuitively to create an ecosystem of layered pools, washes and lines of pigment. Rather than describe a landscape, Robertson’s visceral palette evokes an overall sense of a place, with colours that might suggest, for instance, the sensation of the sun drying salt water on skin.
Sculpture, both small- and large-scale, is crucial to their practice. Robertson often starts a sheet-metal sculpture with a line drawing, which they use to create Constructivist-like forms that balance a sense of freedom with mathematical precision. Welding, a physical and dangerous process, creates a connection between their family’s shipbuilding heritage and modern and contemporary sculptural practices. Rather than the unified figure associated with traditional sculptural form, Robertson creates multi-part sculptures with an abundance of negative space, breaking down binaries by expressing ideas around the extended or collective body.
Robertson’s first institutional solo exhibition, The Ribs Begin to Rise, opened at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, in 2025. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Sea State, a two-person exhibition with Maggi Hambling at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk; Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes, The Hepworth Wakefield, touring to The Box, Plymouth, and Museum Arnhem, Netherlands; and Modern Thresholds: Ro Robertson, Tate St Ives. Additional recent group exhibitions have taken place at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York; MK Gallery, Milton Keynes; and Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds. Public sculpture installations include Drench at the Sainsbury Centre Sculpture Park, Norwich, and Stone (Butch) at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Robertson’s work is held in the collections of Arts Council England, the British Museum, the Sainsbury Centre and The Hepworth Wakefield.
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SELECTED WORKS
Ro Robertson; Interlude II, 2024; Mild steel, sea water, rain water, marine paint, oil stick, chalk, graphite, rocks and rope;
Ro Robertson, 'Porth I', 2023; Gouache paint, watercolour pencil, graphite, sand and binder on paper 200 x 140 cm; Photography: Deniz Güzel;
Ro Robertson, 'Interlude I', 2023; Corten Steel, marine paint, found blue rope; 320 x 400 x 400 cm; Photography: Deniz Güzel;
Ro Robertson, 'Porth II', 2023; Gouache paint, watercolour pencil, graphite, sand and binder on paper 200 x 140 cm; Photography: Deniz Güzel;
Ro Robertson 'Torso II', 2021; Corten steel, jesmonite, paint and found objects (white vest, white sports socks, seaweed, mulch and rocks); 160 x 140 x 140 cm;
Ro Robertson, 'Drench', 2022; Painted Corten Steel; 320 x 400 x 400 cm; Photography: Jack Hems;
Ro Robertson 'Torso III', 2022; Corten steel, oil paint, and found objects (white vest, white boxer shorts and rock); 69 x 169 x 108 cm;
Ro Robertson, 'Torso (my cotton, filled with cold steel),' 2021; Corten steel, jesmonite, paint and found objects (white vest, blue shorts, sports socks, mulch, box of matches); 150 x 175 x 80 cm; Edition of 3 (#1/3); Photography: Jack Hems;
Ro Robertson, 'Island (anchored by mud),' 2021; Gouache, charcoal, graphite, pastel, sandstone, red mud and binder on board; 155.9 x 66.2 x 6 cm; Photography: Jack Hems;
Ro Robertson, 'Island (departing),' 2021; Gouache, charcoal, graphite, pastel, sandstone, red mud and binder on board 155.9 x 66.2 x 6 cm; Photography: Jack Hems;
Ro Robertson, 'Stone (Butch),' 2021, Corten steel, jesmonite and paint, 220 x 130 x 156 cm; Image courtesy Sculpture in the City; Photography: Nick Turpin;
Ro Robertson, 'Between Two Bodies,' 2020, Jesmonite, pigment and steel rebar; Collection: The Hepworth Wakefield; Image courtesy The Hepworth Wakefield; Photography: Nick Singleton;
Ro Robertson, 'The Island,' Gouache, charcoal, graphite, oil and plaster dust, 87 x 122 cm; Collection: The Hepworth Wakefield; Image courtesy The Hepworth Wakefield; Photography: Nick Singleton;
Installation view, 'Stone Butch,' The Hepworth Wakefield, 2019; Image courtesy The Hepworth Wakefield; Photography: Lewis Ronald;
Ro Robertson, 'Pissing,' Performance for camera, single channel video (looped) with sound; Image courtesy the artist;
Installation view, 'Stone Butch,' The Hepworth Wakefield, 2019; Image courtesy The Hepworth Wakefield; Photography: Lewis Ronald;
Ro Robertson, 'Packing,' 2020, Photographic image from performance for camera; Image courtesy the artist;
Ro Robertson, 'Packing,' 2020, Photographic image from performance for camera; Image courtesy the artist;
Ro Robertson, 'Stonebodywater,' 2019, Photographic image from performance for camera single channel video, 1 minute (looped) with sound; Image courtesy the artist;
GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
PRESS, EXTERNAL & INSTITUTIONAL SHOWS
From Shipyards to Sculpture: Ro Robertson on Working-Class Identity, Queer Space and the Power of Water.