Fox Jensen now representing Aiko Robinson

Words: Stella Martino

Neat, deep, detailed and voyeuristic; Aiko Robinson’s deliciously sensual work sheds light on stigmas surrounding sex, lust and fetishism in everyday life. Fox Jensen and Fox Jensen McCrory galleries in will now represent the artist in Sydney and Auckland, where she joins a stable of top regional and international artists including Aida Tomescu, Tomislav Nikolic, Judith Wright, Jan Albers, Günter Umberg, Imi Knoebel and Winston Roeth, among others.

Robinson is a Christchurch-born artist of Japanese and New Zealand heritage. She takes inspiration from a form pornography coined Shunga, which translates to spring pictures. Shunga rejoices in the outward conversation and celebration of sex in Shinto culture, just as Robinson’s works concern themselves with positive sexual imagery and pleasure, intertwined with love, respect and fertility. Her nod to history allows her work to take on a traditionalist mode of artistry, while also maintaining a deep sense of modern society’s sexual desire in the form of technological based eroticism through her subjects.

This is to say, her depiction of headless partners engaging in lovable coitus are as enjoyable as they are mysterious. We partake in the role of the voyeur. Should I be looking? Should I stop? Robinson meticulously engages the viewer through subtle, tiny pen strokes that take up vast amounts of space. The bigger picture swallows the act of sex portrayed, yet it is this very portrayal that displays the notion of hidden sexuality and sensuality within the realm of our society that Robinson so exquisitely indulges in.

Jensen showed a small series of Robinson at this year’s Art Basel Hong Kong. New works by the artist will be presented in the galleries’ major upcoming project, Eros, staged across Sydney and Auckland, as well as at the Auckland Art Fair from the 1 to 5 May.

Image: Aiko Robinson, A time together, 2019, Pen and colour pencil drawing on washi paper, 60 x 27.3cm