Born in Zimbabwe and based in Cape Town, Dave Robertson is a self-taught abstract painter, photographer and printmaker, who spent the early part of his artistic journey, working in the film industry as an art-director. In between film projects, he would follow his passion for photography, which was primarily a form of social commentary often concerned with documenting marginalized lifestyles.

After winning a national award at Spier Contemporary 2010, for "Paper Trails’,  a photographic project documenting urban recyclers in Johannesburg, he took a break from both photography and the film industry to focus on painting. His first solo exhibition of abstract paintings was with Worldart Gallery, Cape Town in 2011. Since then Robertson’s artworks have been acquired by a variety of international
collectors from Sweden, Germany, the USA, Australia and the UK. Local collectors include
the South African Foundation for Contemporary Art (SAACA), AFDA, Nando’s and Spier Arts Trust.

Dave works by manipulating information and impulses - presented to him during the creative process - to create a visual narrative. Relying on his ability to react to whatever marks, gestures or brushstrokes appear on the canvas, he lets the evolution of the painting guide his hand. Often working on several pieces simultaneously, operating on various degrees of awareness and intuition, he attempts to uncover what the artwork is trying to tell him. Dave intends to produce works that influence the viewer the same way the creative process influenced him. In doing so, he hopes to allow the viewer to fully appreciate the autonomy and uniqueness of each of his works.

“My work is often concerned with the in-between spaces which are not immediately apparent but can be found just under the ‘skin’ of the perceived physical world. A place where fact and fiction, objectivity and subjectivity join hands in a magical dance. Where our so-called physical reality seemingly invites aspects of the metaphysical world to show themselves in the work.” 

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