For Memphis artist John Robinette, painting has always been the foundation. Over a career spanning nearly six decades, he has worked as an illustrator, stained-glass designer, sculptor, muralist, and teacher, but he always comes back to painting.
“I’ve always done painting,” says Robinette, a 1966 graduate of Memphis College of Art. “Even as an illustrator, I did painting.”
Robinette has turned his attention to a landscape he has known for much of his life. “Delta Nights,” on view at the Germantown Performing Arts Center that started on September 8th and will be on display through November 2nd, features paintings inspired by the Mississippi Delta, particularly its old churches, water towers, shacks, and other structures that are gradually disappearing.
The artist has been developing the series for 25 years. The idea began during nighttime drives through the Delta, when he became fascinated by the landscape’s drama after dark. One scene especially stuck with him: a small church on a hill with the moon directly above it. “It was so symmetrical and unreal,” he recalls. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind until I did a painting of it.”
That sense of mystery runs throughout the series. Rather than creating photographic representations, Robinette constructs what he calls a “rough fantasy,” giving familiar Delta scenes a surreal quality. His compositions are often symmetrical, with dark skies and a palette that developed almost instinctively. “I don’t think about it,” he says. “You just do it.”
The disappearing structures are central to the work, too. Robinette wanted to preserve the character of a landscape he remembers before old churches and shacks were replaced by development. Water towers have become particular favorites because, as he puts it, they have “character.”
His longtime love of the blues also finds its way into the paintings. Robinette, who once played in blues bands, sees a natural connection between the music and the Delta landscape where it originated. While a few works feature blues musicians, the exhibition largely remains focused on the land itself.
After years of commercial illustration for clients including Time-Life Books, Fortune, Forbes, and Walt Disney, Robinette now paints without art directors weighing in. “All I’ve ever done is art,” he says.
Meet Robinette and view “Delta Nights” during his artist reception at GPAC on Friday, September 18th, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., with wine and snacks.
“DELTA NIGHTS,” GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, 1801 EXETER RD., THROUGH MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2.
