Robin Antar
Realism in Stone inc.
https://www.instagram.com/robinantar/?hl=en
Email: info@rantar.com
Web: www.rantar.com
KNOTS OF LIFE
“My youngest son was struggling with drug addiction so I decided to make three knots in his honor, to represent my frustration: D Knot #1, D Knot #2 and D Knot #3. The first D Knot was carved out of a 400-pound piece of watermelon marble, a very hard stone. My newer works reflect universal themes of struggle.” - Robin Antar
MOVEMENT OF MIND 3
YEAR 1992 MATERIAL ALABASTER
SIZE 12″H X 6″W X 6″D
L HEART KNOT
YEAR 2010 MATERIAL VERMONT MARBLE
SIZE 16”H X 22”W X 9”D
Carved out of solid block of Vermont Marble, this piece is part of the “Knot Sculpture” series of work. Knots represent the challenges of life and universal themes of struggle. The finished piece reminded me of a heart, so I called it: L Heart Knot.
D KNOT # 1
YEAR 2010 MATERIAL CARVED FROM ONE PIECE OF WATERMELON MARBLE
SIZE 17”H X 40”W X 17”D
THE STORY BEHIND THE D KNOTS
When I arrived at the MARBLE/marble symposium in the summer of 2006, my son David was in a drug rehabilitation facility in Florida. I was so anxiety-ridden that my stomach was in knots! I purchased this boulder of Watermelon Marble and immediately got to work.
I created a visual model for myself by tying a ribbon into a knot. I then aggressively attacked the stone with a five-inch diamond blade, thereby releasing some of my anger and frustration back into the stone.
I spent the next six months rough cutting and cleaning up the lines, using diamond blades, core bits, grinders and other powerful tools. This stone was a very hard marble and hand tools would have not been effective in the polishing and finishing.
Just like my David, this work of art is a study in contradictions:
A hard stone that appears to be pliable.
Sharp lines in a soft-colored stone.
A heavy stone that appears to be graceful and elegant.
In the same way this rock is balanced on a very small plane, David’s sobriety was also a balancing act. We never knew how long it would last and if we would get that dreaded phone call. David could be as tough and unyielding as a boulder, but at the same time he was sweet and found pleasure in helping others. He wrote in his journal that he got a similar high from helping others as he did from using drugs. As a matter of fact, he started an organization called “CRY OUT” where he helped hundreds of addicts by assisting them to get themselves admitted to drug rehabilitation facilities. Ultimately, he could not help himself, but he helped many others.
On October 8, 2010, when David has some years of sobriety behind him, he posted an image of this piece on his Facebook page with the following statement:
“This was made by my mom during my addiction over the years. It represents how addiction affects everyone in the family, not just the addict.”
David could not know how prescient those words were. In October, 2013, his father and I received that dreaded phone call.
To this day, this piece of work contains my love for David, along with all the other emotions he stirred up in me. David Antar is survived by his mother, Robin, his father Sam, and his brothers Eddy and Leon. May his memory be for a blessing.
When I arrived at the MARBLE/marble symposium in the summer of 2006, my son David was in a drug rehabilitation facility in Florida. I was so anxiety-ridden that my stomach was in knots! I purchased this boulder of Watermelon Marble and immediately got to work.
I created a visual model for myself by tying a ribbon into a knot. I then aggressively attacked the stone with a five-inch diamond blade, thereby releasing some of my anger and frustration back into the stone.
I spent the next six months rough cutting and cleaning up the lines, using diamond blades, core bits, grinders and other powerful tools. This stone was a very hard marble and hand tools would have not been effective in the polishing and finishing.
Just like my David, this work of art is a study in contradictions:
A hard stone that appears to be pliable.
Sharp lines in a soft-colored stone.
A heavy stone that appears to be graceful and elegant.
In the same way this rock is balanced on a very small plane, David’s sobriety was also a balancing act. We never knew how long it would last and if we would get that dreaded phone call. David could be as tough and unyielding as a boulder, but at the same time he was sweet and found pleasure in helping others. He wrote in his journal that he got a similar high from helping others as he did from using drugs. As a matter of fact, he started an organization called “CRY OUT” where he helped hundreds of addicts by assisting them to get themselves admitted to drug rehabilitation facilities. Ultimately, he could not help himself, but he helped many others.
On October 8, 2010, when David has some years of sobriety behind him, he posted an image of this piece on his Facebook page with the following statement:
“This was made by my mom during my addiction over the years. It represents how addiction affects everyone in the family, not just the addict.”
David could not know how prescient those words were. In October, 2013, his father and I received that dreaded phone call.
To this day, this piece of work contains my love for David, along with all the other emotions he stirred up in me. David Antar is survived by his mother, Robin, his father Sam, and his brothers Eddy and Leon. May his memory be for a blessing.
D KNOT # 2
YEAR 2011 MATERIAL CARVED FROM ONE PIECE OF YULE MARBLE
SIZE 17”H X 40”W X 15”D
"What Is America"
Robin Antar explores "What is America?"
by sculpting iconic symbols of American contemporary life: comfort food, denim jeans, cowboy hats and work boots.
Robin Antar explores "What is America?"
by sculpting iconic symbols of American contemporary life: comfort food, denim jeans, cowboy hats and work boots.
I’M HUNGRY
YEAR 1999 MATERIAL PLATE: LIMESTONE AND OILS; COOKIES: CAST RESIN;MILK GLASS: ALABASTER AND ACRYLIC PAINT
SIZE 6.5”H X 12”W X 12”D
YEAR 1999 MATERIAL PLATE: LIMESTONE AND OILS; COOKIES: CAST RESIN;MILK GLASS: ALABASTER AND ACRYLIC PAINT
SIZE 6.5”H X 12”W X 12”D
The plate in this sculpture is carved from Limestone and tinted with oils. The cookies are cast resin. The milk glass is carved in Alabaster and painted with acrylic. This piece includes a custom made pedestal with a rotating base and a lucite cover case.
SUMMER BARBECUE
YEAR 2016 MATERIAL LIMESTONE, MARBLE, CALCITE AND MIXED
MEDIA SIZE 11”H X 13”W X 12”D (HAMBURGER)
Summer Barbecue was inspired by a fond childhood memory of my neighbors who used to invite me over to their house for a barbecue during the summer. The food and the friendships represent the best of America. This is part of my “What is America?” series.
HEINZ KETCHUP
YEAR2009 MATERIAL RED TRAVERTINE
SIZE 24”H X 8”W X 8”D
Condiments
Condiments such as mayonnaise and ketchup are staples in many American restaurants and diners, although Antar admits she doesn’t like condiments and doesn’t even have them in her house. These pieces are simply “the artist as observer” of American culture.
Condiments such as mayonnaise and ketchup are staples in many American restaurants and diners, although Antar admits she doesn’t like condiments and doesn’t even have them in her house. These pieces are simply “the artist as observer” of American culture.
WHITE TEETH, FRESH BREATH
YEAR 2003 MATERIAL TUBE: MARBLE AND VINYL; TOOTHPASTE: RESIN; CAP AND TOOTHBRUSH ARE REAL OBJECTS
SIZE 1.5”H X 15”W X 4”D
Tube: carved marble and mixed media. Toothpaste: resin. The sculpture is displayed on a custom built pedestal with a rotating base and a lucite cover case. This piece is perfect for a dentist's office.
I sculpt in stone, observing American life and human nature with two parallel and intertwining bodies of work. One offers a visual record of American contemporary culture, while the other focuses on personal trauma and conflict.
The “Realism in Stone” series presents opposing aspects of Americans’ exterior and interior lives through culture-laden symbols of American products and emotionally charged political symbols.
This exploration is grounded in the abstract sculptures I’ve created since I first put chisel to stone. “Expressions in Stone” are pure abstractions of personal emotions - a deep dive into teenage angst, relationships, marriage, motherhood and life's challenges. On a universal level, these emotions are symbolic of our struggles as a nation and as individuals who are grappling with the conflicts of daily life.
The American Dream in the face of conflict and struggle has connections to our own feelings and experiences.
My sculptural work represents our personal and collective trauma in society to learn, discuss and release it as a way of survival for our nation.
The “Realism in Stone” series presents opposing aspects of Americans’ exterior and interior lives through culture-laden symbols of American products and emotionally charged political symbols.
This exploration is grounded in the abstract sculptures I’ve created since I first put chisel to stone. “Expressions in Stone” are pure abstractions of personal emotions - a deep dive into teenage angst, relationships, marriage, motherhood and life's challenges. On a universal level, these emotions are symbolic of our struggles as a nation and as individuals who are grappling with the conflicts of daily life.
The American Dream in the face of conflict and struggle has connections to our own feelings and experiences.
My sculptural work represents our personal and collective trauma in society to learn, discuss and release it as a way of survival for our nation.
THE POWER OF EXPRESSION
YEAR 2005 MATERIAL TUBE: MARBLE, STEEL AND SILVER LEAF; CAP: CARVED MARBLE
SIZE 5”H X 24”W X 9”D
An opened tube of artist’s paint symbolizes the importance and power of self-expression. This is particularly important to me as an artist, but self-expression is important for everyone, whether in words, music, theater or art.
AART S1E27
Robin Antar is an American rock sculptor who moves seamlessly between Realism and Expressionism. From hyper-realistic icons of American pop culture influenced by Robin’s wry sense of humor, her art explores personal and social trauma and conflict. Robin’s parallel and intertwining bodies of work span her 40-year career as an artist-observer of human nature with a broad lens on the American life. Robin was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1957, one of four daughters. Her father Leon Betseh was a retailer and her mother Linda, an oil painter. In 1973, the family moved to Brooklyn, NY, which proved to be a tough move for Robin as a shy teenager in the city. She began learning to carve in stone in school and in the family’s basement as a means of coping with urban life, using art as her emotional lifeline. In 1976, at the age of 16, Robin discovered she suffered from retrolental fibroplasia causing blindness in her right eye since birth.
While her vision was compromised it became an integral tool among the techniques she used to create her art despite an absence of depth perception. After graduating with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1981, Robin set up a working studio in Brooklyn, creating abstract sculptures in a loose, intuitive style deeply rooted in her emotional experiences. Her themes address marriage, motherhood, divorce and trauma through a series of Conversations, Relationships and Meditation that reflect the process of releasing life’s traumas and their importance to survival, healing and positive change. Trauma has visited Robin in devastating ways with the loss of two of her three sons whom she has memorialized through her art work.
A series of stone D-Knots were carved in honor of her youngest child, David, representing his struggles with the trauma of child abuse and addiction. His death at the age of 26 resulted in one of Robin’s most personal and powerful creations, David’s Knot in Flames, carved from a 1,500-pound block of Turkish marble. The sculpture is permanently installed at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, where her son received treatment during his short life. A sculpture is memory of Leon is in progress, out of a 10,0000 pound piece of carrara marble. Robin has a studio and showroom in her home in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
Reproduced with permission: Chris Stafford - Hollowell Studio
https://www.spreaker.com/user/17013765/s1e27-robin-antar
Robin Antar is an American rock sculptor who moves seamlessly between Realism and Expressionism. From hyper-realistic icons of American pop culture influenced by Robin’s wry sense of humor, her art explores personal and social trauma and conflict. Robin’s parallel and intertwining bodies of work span her 40-year career as an artist-observer of human nature with a broad lens on the American life. Robin was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1957, one of four daughters. Her father Leon Betseh was a retailer and her mother Linda, an oil painter. In 1973, the family moved to Brooklyn, NY, which proved to be a tough move for Robin as a shy teenager in the city. She began learning to carve in stone in school and in the family’s basement as a means of coping with urban life, using art as her emotional lifeline. In 1976, at the age of 16, Robin discovered she suffered from retrolental fibroplasia causing blindness in her right eye since birth.
While her vision was compromised it became an integral tool among the techniques she used to create her art despite an absence of depth perception. After graduating with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1981, Robin set up a working studio in Brooklyn, creating abstract sculptures in a loose, intuitive style deeply rooted in her emotional experiences. Her themes address marriage, motherhood, divorce and trauma through a series of Conversations, Relationships and Meditation that reflect the process of releasing life’s traumas and their importance to survival, healing and positive change. Trauma has visited Robin in devastating ways with the loss of two of her three sons whom she has memorialized through her art work.
A series of stone D-Knots were carved in honor of her youngest child, David, representing his struggles with the trauma of child abuse and addiction. His death at the age of 26 resulted in one of Robin’s most personal and powerful creations, David’s Knot in Flames, carved from a 1,500-pound block of Turkish marble. The sculpture is permanently installed at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, where her son received treatment during his short life. A sculpture is memory of Leon is in progress, out of a 10,0000 pound piece of carrara marble. Robin has a studio and showroom in her home in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
Reproduced with permission: Chris Stafford - Hollowell Studio
https://www.spreaker.com/user/17013765/s1e27-robin-antar