Press Release

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Flowers of Resistance brings together a collection recent artworks by internationally well-known architect, artist, and writer, Tony Robins. Currently based in Vancouver with projects and awards from Paris to Japan, Tony is a recipient of Canada’s 1994 Prix de Rome in Architecture, Lieutenant Governor of BC/AIBC’s 2014 Special Jury Award and Western Living Magazine’s 2014 Architect, Interior Designer and Eco Designer of the Year, to name a few. 

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For over 40 years, Robins has created artwork in parallel with his architectural practice. His works, coined “Narrative Minimalism”, explore the formation, transference, and deformation of meaning in a materialistic, psychological, and sociohistorical context. This was the main theme of Robins’ 2018 exhibition Transmediation at the gallery.

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From June 21st to August 9th Paul Kyle Gallery will be presenting Robins’ second solo exhibition, Flowers of Resistance. With a bold referential approach, these timely paintings, installation and video works feature floral emblems adopted by resistance movements across the globe and as far back as the 17th Century. These ethereal emblems are often contextualized by way of various tactile interventions; a delicate rendering of a peacock flower becomes obscured by four overlaid sheets of steel, the background of an iris painting systematically laser etched with Base64 computer code. In the artist’s words, “The juxtaposition adds material tactility and weight that relates to the brutality of regimes”.

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A catalog with insight by Robins alongside the exhibition’s works is available.