Robert Royhl

Place has been central to my work for many years. I return over and over to places that for one reason or another have pulled me into entering their life. However, what a small hill in the Sonoran desert, a river bank in Kyoto, Japan, a non descript cross roads in Umbria, the lakes of Yellowstone and the glacier remains in Central Park have in common is beyond my udnerstanding. Once I select a location, I draw and observe, ideally over a full year, in all times of the day and night to discover the essence of this particular place. My prints and paintings are then made from these life studies.
At first, it can be hard to see anything of interest, and it takes a while to get my eyes focused to the right wave length. Lately I have begun to notice the myriad of pathways that make up the life of any spot and how people and animals have certain almost predetermined ways of inhabiting an area. As, I stay on longer I ralize that plants have their own paths of seeding, flowering and dying that takes place through time and later I see this is also true of rocks, roads and buildings. All the matter in the universe seemingly so stable is in constant flux.
As my vision deepens, I see there is no stability at all, only a convergence of paths whose gravities and attractions pull us into a brownian motion of forms that assists in our own flowering and disappearances. In a sense, there is no place at all.
Ordinary reality and the ordinary places I seek within it seem as mysterious and odd as the photos from the other end of outer space. it is an endless adventure to understand what is right in front of our face. The pieces in this show represent twenty years of looking and I feel I am only just beginning to see.