Robert

by Jamie Bennett 

Robert was created by Nia and myself for Pacific University in Eugene, Ore. Our medium was vinyl on a variety of surfaces. I had actually been imagining working in vinyl for a gallery for quite some time. Vinyl is something I frequently use in my line of work and I love the way it looks. I bought a decal plotter for this exhibition and my goal was to produce large, wall sized decals that narrated a thought provoking story. Developing the story took some thought but once I had the story, we were off to the races. Nia created some of the cutest characters that I had ever seen, including Robert. Her artistic abilities really made this gallery a success.

You enter the gallery space and there is a book before you. It is actually our guest book and you can sign it. This book also contains the first part of Robert's story. Robert is basically a protagonist who has gotten bored in his own story. He devises a plan to escape and he succeeds.

Robert highjacks his own story. He is only two dimensional so he moves along the walls and in and out of frames. He takes a number of pages with him. These pages are ripped right out of the story and continue to narrate his adventure throughout the gallery space.

It is hard to describe every nuance of this gallery. It was detail oriented with lots of fun surprises hidden around the gallery space. 

Robert escapes his storybook, which carries on without him but he ends up in a linear story that will never repeat (the gallery). His story is now intertwined with our reality and the same rules apply. He will now experience mortality. His life will end as the gallery dissolves (03/31/14). There will be only subtle reminders that he ever existed, like the incomplete guestbook. I think this gallery is quite beautiful and thought provoking. I am really proud of how it all turned out.
 

At the end of the gallery Robert and his friends celebrate and discuss life. "What is all means" and what not. I was asked to donate aspects of Robert to the school and I may give one or two pieces to the University but in all honesty the whole point of this exhibition was that time is fleeting. Robert must belong to the ages. He can live on in our memories and photographs but I am somewhat opposed to leaving to many traces of him beyond this gallery's life span.