Artists of the Knight: Robyn Sean Peterson

Robyn's episode premieres Wed., March 16!

To bring the ancient into a new time is creation. — C.G. Jung

Artist Statement:

Within each new generation of artists there are those whose work emerges from the Collective Unconscious as a new expression of a psychological and spiritual language. As modern humans, this language can feel paradoxically both familiar and alien, but it creates a necessary dialogue with our individual and collective souls.

If we are willing listen to these images when they speak, we can learn a great deal about the deepest parts of ourselves and our relationship to the Cosmos. My own artwork is a continuation of this lineage. It is an expression of revelation rather than outer observation.

I have been working in the medium of collage for many years, and have collected thousands of pieces of source materials consisting of magazine and catalogue clippings, fabric and gift wrap samples, found objects, etc. From this vast assortment of possibilities, I am guided to select a specific piece that acts as a starting point for the composition.

Totally unrelated elements are cut up with an X-ACTO knife, photocopied, and then manually recombined to create the individual collage elements. This process is repeated numerous times until all of the parts are finally glued down to a surface. Since none of the work is done on a computer, each piece develops slowly, often over a period of months or even years.

When a piece reaches completion, the image appears whole in both content and appearance. All of the seemingly unrelated elements of the collaged source material have been fully integrated and there is a type of poetic openness to it that allows the viewer to interpret the meaning of what they see on their own terms. In that sense, my work not only attempts to function as a portal or window into another world, but also as a mirror that reflects the viewer’s own psychological projections back to them.

Artist Biography

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Robyn has been a resident of Colorado for the past 10 years. He holds a B.A. in Comparative Religions, as well as a M.A. in Psychology from the California Institute for Integral Studies. He also studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Robyn creates intricate collage images that explore states of spiritual and psychological awareness.