Statement:
Rubem Robierb is essentially a poet and philosopher who uses visual art as a way to express his thoughts about existential issues. His narrative brings to surface universal and human concepts, opening deep conversations about how we, as humans in contemporary society, believe and behave. He works with different mediums to try and create visually compelling pieces with strong symbolism and underlying messages inducing emotional responses. Humanity and its complexities are his main inspirations, he uses poem, photography, painting, sculpture, virtual reality or any array of mediums that could bring to surface his statement and revolutionary vision. Attracting the viewer with unique and enigmatic aesthetics, his work is highly influenced by biology, psychology and technology and architecture. Together, they evoke a strong emotional reaction of the viewer, who also is uplifted from a passive spectator to co-author of the artwork. He knows how to press emotional buttons when he invites the viewer to reflect on their own emotions and roles in society. The monumental proportions of symbolisms are there to enhance the profound meanings in the subtle signs that he hides in plain sight, leaving you to feel the creative process running through your eyes.
BIO
For more than 15 years Rubem Robierb has worked with poetry, photography, painting, and sculpture to create capturing and visually compelling works of art whose strong symbolism and underlying message induce an emotional response and strike on the sensitive nerves of modern-day society.
Growing up in Maranhão, Brazil, Robierb’s first artistic expression was poetry, which was closely followed by photography. Like with poetry, Robierb saw how he could create photographic images that could convey a more profound meaning – just like reading a poem would reveal layers of meaning and metaphors.
After receiving formal photography training, he worked as a commercial photographer in São Paulo. Here he was discovered by the French ‘Art et Partage’ association, that helped him debut his first solo photography show “Bresil Autrement” in Paris, Aix en Provence, Milan and Zurich.
In 2008 Robierb relocated to Miami to open his studio in the art district Wynwood. In the axis of international and local art galleries mixed with street art and graffiti, he began to pursue what he describes as his third artistic way of expression: painting.
In 2013 Robierb moved to New York City to debut his first show – the powerful Bullets and Butterflies – at the Gaglialatella Galleries. New York served as his base where he created a row of his most essential artwork collections, including BULLETFY EFFECT, HEART, and POWER FLOWERS.
In 2015, Robierb was commissioned by the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to create an expansive work of public art to grace the walls of the Shade Post in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. He chose his well-known and transformational figures of the butterfly and the bullet to create large-scale murals on the building located in an area undergoing a rapid metamorphosis from challenged neighborhood to a hub of arts and culture as well as a valuable addition to the downtown transit zone.
2015 also marks the year where Robierb starts to explore sculpture as his fourth artistic expression working with dimensionality and proportion on his large-scale bullets in his LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING collection and life-size butterfly wing paintings in his luminous DIPTYCHS.
Sculptural artistic expression also paves the way for Robierb to present a series of politically laden artworks, and in 2017 he draws inspiration from the political climate in the U.S. and the civil war conflict in Venezuela. Using his entire catalog of artistic expression, his artworks span from paintings over sculpture to installation with works that all showcase the complexity of human emotion and loss of meaning in today’s supercharged political climate. The Art collections AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE, MONEY TALKS, and THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS are all part of Robierb’s effort to have us question values like truth and freedom, that we up until this moment in time have taken for granted.
In 2018, Robierb’s amplified his sculptural work with the launch of his larger than life butterfly wing sculpture called DREAM MACHINE. He expands the concept of interactive art by inviting the viewer to place themselves between his sculptural wings and imagine a trip to a place where dreams come true, it creates a non material/metaphorical space that speaks to the power of our minds and the law of attraction.
The art work became the experience and interaction between the sculpture and the viewer. On board of the first billion dollar cruise Celebrity Edge, Dream Machine have around 5 thousand weekly visitors.
In 2019 When asked by the NYC Parks to display his Dream Machine sculpture in Tribeca Park, and in partnership with Taglialatella Galleries, Robierb made a bold statement naming the sculpture after DANDARA Dos Santos , a transwomen killed by violence. The first and ONLY sculpture in NYC dedicated to the Trans community, now a cornerstone for the LGBTQ+ rights and violence issue.
Robierb has used his career to amplify and empower voices calling for social justice. This is a theme aways present in his work.
During Art Basel Miami 2019, Robierb brought attention for the Climate Change issue with his ‘’CLIMATE MELTDOWN’’ 36 ft long floating ICE sculpture…
with the words ‘’ HOW DARE YOU’’ carved in the ice. It alludes to the now famous Greta Thunberg speech on climate change to the UN.
New for the beginning 2020 on board of the Celebrity Apex, a giant Robierb designed Lotus /Throne called ‘’Empower Flower’’ dedicated to the strength of women around the world.
One ‘’cause’’ at the time! Robierb uses his art to open difficult conversations about deep rooted social issues ( LGBTQ+ rights, women’s empowerment, immigration, equality, gun control, world wide protests, climate change, racial equality).
At the moment he is working on 2 large sculpture projects: one asks for the end of racial equality and the other, a tribute to the Health Care Workers during the corona virus crisis.
Solo Exhibits
2020 “Peace Makers”, Taglialatella Gallery (New York,USA)
2019 “Climate Meltdown”, Arte Fundamental Gallery (Miami, USA)
2018 “Metamosphosis”, Sagamore Hotel (Miami, USA)
2018 “Metamosphosis”, Taglialatella Gallery (New York, USA)
2018 “Metamosphosis”, Taglialatella Gallery (Toronto, Canada)
2018 “Metamosphosis”, Taglialatella Gallery (Paris, France)
2017 “And The Truth Will Set You Free”, Arte Fundamental Gallery (Miami, USA)
2017 “Rubem Robierb New Works”, Octavia Gallery (Houston, USA)
2017 “Rubem Robierb New Works”, Octavia Gallery (New Orleans, USA)
2016 “Rubem Robierb New Works”, Taglialatella Galeries (New York, USA)
2015 “Metamorph-Us” (Fort Lauderdale, USA)
2015 “HeArt”, Gallery 212 (Aspen, USA)
2013 “Bullets and Butterfies”, Taglialatella Galeries (New York, USA)
2012 “Bullet-Fly Effect”, Emmanuel Fremin Gallery (New York, USA)
2011 “Show Me the Money”, Curators Voice Gallery (Miami, USA)
2009 “Eros/Thanatos”, Curators Voice Gallery (Miami, USA)
2006 “Brésil Autrement”, Institute Alliance Française (São Paulo, Brazil)
2006 “Brésil Autrement”, Ilana Gallery (Paris, France)
2006 “Brésil Autrement”, The Image House Gallery (Zurich, Switzerland)
2006 “Brésil Autrement”, Institute Alliance Française (São Paulo, Brazil)
2005 “Brésil Autrement”, IBRIT Instituto Brasile-Italia (Milano, Italy)
2005 “Brésil Autrement”, Space D´Art Sextius (Aix-en-Provence, France)
Group Shows
2019 – Scope Art Fair – Vogelsang Gallery
2018 – Cornell Art Museum – Delray Beach
2018 – Scope Art Fair – Vogelsang Gallery
2018 – Palm Beach Art Fair – Arte Fundamental Gallery
2017 – Bedazzled – Lehman College Museum
2017 – Scope Art Fair – Vogelsang Gallery
2017 – Scope Art Fair – Taglialatella Gallery
2016 – Scope Art Fair – Vogelsang Gallery
2015 – Gallery 212 (Aspen, USA)
2012 – All About Art Fine Art Auction – The Frost Museum
2012 – Overture Contemporary Art Fair
2012 – Arte Americas Art Fair, Canal Gallery
2007 – Stephanie & Art Curial Auction for Fight Aids Foundation (Monte Carlo, Monaco)
2005 – Quadra Gallerie (Paris)