Cordis HK - Artist in Residence
23 October - 28 November 2017
I'm absolutely delighted and honored to have been invited by Cordis Hotel HK, to show some of my work. 6 key pieces, depicting various aspects of Hong Kong's everyday life have been selected to grace the hotel lobby, and each will be accompanied by iPads that play the time-lapses of each piece.
Exhibition Description
Life brims with vibrant detail... and if you let them, these visual adventures allow you to feel the thrum of life purr and pound, plugging you into each moment in technicolor wonder.
In narrow alleyways and around crowded street corners, I’ve found my senses heightened and thrilled as I sit with my iPad, soaking in the stories, sounds, sights and flavors. After periods of observation that range from mere snatched seconds to long, contemplative pauses, I then sketch, draw and paint using the app, Procreate, in an attempt to capture that magical confluence of time and place.
This simple act of drawing and sharing my work has changed the way I see the world around me. I discovered the Urban Sketchers movement about 4 years ago, and it has connected me to a thriving, colorful world of people who share their lives one drawing at a time, allowing me to understand theirs as they begin to comprehend mine.
These 6 canvases depict some of my favorite little corners of Hong Kong. I hope that the iPads mounted below each piece let you feel like you sat with me as I created each canvas. I’m thrilled to share with you a glimpse at the gears grinding in my head, and }as you watch each piece of artwork build and come together stroke-by-stroke, I encourage you to remember how this feels, so you too might slow down sometimes to appreciate the fascinating detail which winks and weaves around you throughout your day.
May those moments energize you as they have me.
Artist Bio
In a day and age when many people are fingering little screens at every spare moment, Rob Sketcherman hopes his works encourage viewers to look up and around, in order to delight in the details of the everyday, be it bustling markets bursting with color and life, fascinating local rituals that include golden slippers, or an animated group of friends laughing over lunch.
Known for his use of dynamic lines, vivid color, and detailed scenes filled with expressive people, Rob has been working solely with an iPad and the app Procreate for the past 4+ years, relishing the freedom and speed his minimalist kit brings, and its ability to let him work inconspicuously anywhere a good story beckons.
It’s not lost on Rob that his preferred medium is a device that many associate with entertainment, isolation from the outside world and hi-tech babysitting, but his iPad works are also meant to make a strong statement that smart devices can also be powerful tools to create, and not simply consume.
Self-taught, Rob credits comic books for hooking him into drawing, and often says Superman taught him to draw muscles, while Spidey and the Avengers taught him dynamic poses. Figure drawing sessions helped his work evolve, and after being captivated by the immediacy of drawing directly from life, Rob began sketching scenes around him on location, which led him to join the global Urban Sketchers movement. He is now one of the administrators of Urban Sketchers Hong Kong, and has been invited for the past 3 years to speak, teach and conduct workshops on iPad Sketching and iPad Creativity at Apple Stores, institutes of higher learning, and Urban Sketchers Symposiums and related events around the world.