About The Artist

Robert Sandman is a self-taught artist who has been drawing since he was old enough to hold a pencil. Growing up in a military family, his painting reflects a cross-section of multicultural influences.

While his paintings have ranged from large figurative works in oil to predominantly abstract expressionist works in acrylic, pastels and pencil, the constants in his work remain: the use of vivid, intensely saturated color and a whimsical sense of design. His work has been described as a merging of expressionism, surrealism, satire and pop culture.

His artwork is in many private residences, and he has exhibited his work in numerous group exhibitions, and won first place awards in several juried art competitions. He has been commissioned for artwork, as well as murals in commercial and residential spaces. His work has been featured and reviewed in numerous newspaper articles.

Artist Statement

My artwork has been called Abstract Expressionism, surrealist fantasy, and I once heard someone who was looking at a painting of mine in a gallery whisper to a friend that my painting merged expressionism, surrealism, satire and pop culture. That sounded pretty cool, so that’s what I tell people if they ask.

Sometimes I’m asked what a particular painting is about, or why I painted it, or what my inspiration was. Generally, the ‘what’ and ‘why’ is that I’m more interested in people than other subjects, so my paintings are almost always of people. Growing up, I was influenced by comic book art, so you’ll also find images of self styled heroes and antiheroes.

When you’re a self taught artist, you learn from observing other artist’s styles that you like, and how they use color. You notice qualities in their work, and find structure or layout that can be useful in your work. You begin to understand how the colors work in a piece and how they create a mood. Mostly, you learn from doing. And if you learn to trust your instincts in the process, that’s the most important thing you can discover about art. It’s all in there, just waiting to come out.

An artist with a degree in Art once told me that at art school you learn theory, if you’re lucky, and technique, and history. Some of it’s interesting and some of it’s fun, but none of it makes you an artist. Being an artist, he said, is already in you and can’t be learned any more than learning how to have blue eyes instead of brown.

What he was trying to tell me was true – that learning all the techniques in the world still leaves you with the problem of how to use them to make art. So for anyone out there who thinks they’d like to paint, or sculpt, or draw, you don’t have to go to school to learn how to be a creator. Just go to your studio, or the dining room, and make art.