The Artist

A fine art education let loose within an era of punk rock saw Robin Utracik draw inspiration from the traditional art school, popular culture and the burgeoning mass marketing and consumerism culture that grew from the USA.

His early influences were the signs and symbols found in the works of American painters like James Rosenquist and Robert Rauschenberg, and the content and photorealism of the English artist John Salt.

His energy extended to playing guitar for The Worst, arguably the worst band in the UK in an era when there was a plague of truly bad bands, out of a world then sprawling with graffiti and the art of the spray can. He produced work that moved from the traditional oil-on-canvas to car bonnets, motorcycle petrol tanks, drag racers and embracing graphics, air brush and illustration: perhaps most notably including the album artwork portraits for the Buzzcocks seminal second album, Love Bites.

Exhibition, Haworth Art Gallery, 1984

With a mix of fine art and commercial know-how, and a set of finely honed skills combining observation, scrutiny, a model-makers attention to detail and skills drawn from a career that has encompassed traditional paint on canvas, airbrush, illustration and digital photography, Robin Utracik has developed his own unique vision.

From these early influences, coupled with an eclectic approach working without the constraint of boundaries, Robin Utracik has had a long, varied and successful career in the creative industries. Many of the myriad of skills and techniques he has mastered are demonstrated here, in this new series of works, The American Dream.

Hanrahans, Watercolour Illustration, 1986

'61 Galaxie, Oil Paint on Canvas, 1976

F15, Airbrush Ink, 1980