“Still Life” - Portraits
by Professor Richard Robinson

On display between the library stacks
through June 26, 2010

“I think what I am looking for in myself is a sense of presence, of being right here right now.  And I don’t do that all the time very well; I’m usually lost in thoughts.  So that longing is translated into the pictures I take.  I end up looking for images where people are absolutely present because I lack that in my own life.  They are completing me.”

Richard Robinson

Richard Robinson’s portraits are factual, upfront, and spare, but yet evoke contemplation.

Robinson says he chose portraiture over other forms out of necessity. “I try to take a picture of a house or a field or a gas station and I can’t. I have no idea how to give them personality. The only thing that makes sense to me is people.”

There is an arresting presence to the people in his pictures. You are sure they are there and alive and with you. His pictures are often clean, devoid of distracting accessories, and lacking color. The whereabouts are indeterminate. There is no mystery, no narrative, nothing around the corner. There is a limited range of emotions on display; we are not asked to feel sorry for, or to laugh with, or to marvel at the subjects. One is confronted with only a person, or more likely, a personality, and nothing else. The simplicity forces us to establish and immediately evaluate our newly formed relationship with his subjects.

Richard Robinson, Assistant Professor in Cornell University’s Department of Material Science and Engineering, received his bachelors and masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University. After working for several years at Accenture, and briefly at PBS and Public Radio International, he returned to school and earned a PhD in Applied Physics from Columbia University. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley in the Chemistry Department under Paul Alivisatos.  He is currently in his second year as a professor at Cornell University.

Richard’s research program involves synthesis of new nanostructured materials for energy applications. The work integrates his background in materials chemistry from his post-doctoral work with his bent toward materials physics. His goal is to produce metal oxide nanostructured thermoelectric devices for waste heat recovery.

Born and raised in Indiana, Richard was given his first camera for his birthday at age 12, an all manual Pentax K1000. Years later, in 2003 Richard entered a single photo into the Columbia University photo contest, sponsored by the school newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator. He won the Black and White Photography prize and used this as an excuse to buy a nice camera and continue taking pictures.