Instruction for Plato-Cartesian Ascension

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Leo Robinson’s work may be described as a type of ‘visual alchemy’. Working across drawing, painting, collage and sculpture he explores cosmologies and mythologies, blending the historic with the scientific, and the supernatural with the natural to create fantastical visions of an imagined civilisation.
This work explores the points of crossover between myth and science. Adopting the form of a diagram or early chart, Robinson draws into conversation ballet, robotics, religious ritual and other symbols of early science to map out the ideas that underpin Enlightenment thinking and Western civilisation. In its title and diverse drawn elements, the piece references two philosophical traditions in particular: Platonism and Cartesianism. While the former refers to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, whose ideas about the nature of the cosmos and the earthly realm were hugely influential on early scientific thinking, the latter points to the ideas developed by the 17th-century philosopher René Descartes, whose thoughts on reality and perception proved equally formative. By including references to these canonical figures alongside other less expected elements – such as an ornamental cinerary urn, felled horse and floating crucifix – Robinson asks us to consider how humans forge abstract beliefs in order to comprehend the world and to deal with the constant change within it.

Leo Robinson was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme and today lives and works in Glasgow. He graduated from the Manchester School of Fine Arts in 2016. His first solo exhibition was Theories for Cosmic Joy at Tiwani Contemporary, London, in 2019 and he was included in their group exhibition Polymythologies (2024). His commission, Dream-Bridge-Omniglyph, at the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE in London. Other solo exhibitions include On Exactitude, at Indigo+Madder, London (2023) and The Infinity Card, Chapter, Cardiff (2023). His group exhibitions include To The Edge of Time, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Antechamber, Quench, Margate, UK; Bathing Nervous Limbs, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, UK; tender spots in hard code…, Arebyte, London, UK (all 2021); and Talking Back, Holden Gallery, Manchester (2019).

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

Artist

Leo Robinson (1994 - )

Title

Instruction for Plato-Cartesian Ascension

Date

2017

Medium

Graphite on paper

Dimensions

height: 45.6 cm width: 61.5 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Tiwani Gallery, May 2024, Art XUK project 2023-24

Provenance

Tiwani Contemporary, London UK; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 2 May 2024

GAC number

19303