Hailed by The New York Press as the Helmut Newton of the photography world’s new “Brat Pack,” world renowned photographer Paul Robinson continues to take art photography to new heights. Without formal training, Robinson began as a self-taught fashion photographer in Paris. After carving out a name for himself within the art community, Paul then parlayed his work shooting stills of Oprah for various commercials into doing unit photography on various feature films. Through his work in the film industry, Robinson became recognized as one of the most talented celebrity portrait photographers and was featured in some of the market’s top magazines including Details, Detour, Elle, Interview, Flaunt, George, Live, Out, and Architectural Digest. Working for some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, Robinson has built an illustrious client roster that includes Renee Zellweger, Jennifer Tilly, David Arquette, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Melissa Ethridge, Noah Wyle, The Beastie Boys, and Dermot Mulroney, among others. Many of his celebrity clients are also fans, collecting various works from his exhibits.
Throughout the years, in his various collections of photographs, Robinson has repeatedly striven to expand the boundaries of photography while all the time maintaining the emotion in a particular moment, be the final image figurative or abstract.

Longtime collector of Robinson’s work, Academy Award-winner Sydney Pollack, has said, “It’s been exciting to watch Paul’s photographic journey, through the black and white stark images of his earlier work, into the more and more abstract and dreamlike color cityscapes and triptychs that came later, and then on further, still evolving, to watch him find his own distinct photographic eye.”

Finding inspiration in his travels around the world, Paul Robinson exhibits regularly in London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York. His technique in this current body of work has become a form of editing in which multiple images, text and other media that he has created are combined and altered to make them into a single work. The manipulation and layering is all done by hand and reshot each time a new image is added. Even though the final product is a compilation of many elements that he has photographed, the portrait or human element is at the base of every piece.

On September 15 – 30, Paul Robinson’s new works can be seen at Kim Kieler Gallery, 1 North Calle Cesar Chavez #5, Santa Barbara, 805.899.2299 or visit kimkielergallery.com.