Robin Clare

Please note due to the terrible devastation caused to my home parish of St James, Jamaica 50% of all net sales will be donated to the Support Jamaica Fund.

I create bold, rhythmic paintings, installations, and animations that channel the energy and contradictions of Jamaican dancehall and Caribbean street culture. I grew up in Jamaica and now live in Australia, and my practice reflects on migration, memory, and the shifting meanings of culture across the diaspora.

My visual language is rooted in the street-level graphics and everyday art of Jamaica. Hand-screened party posters nailed to light poles, tinted taxi windows reduced to bold silhouettes, and innuendo-laden dancehall promotion shaped my eye for imperfection and impact. I grew up with the work of Albert Artwell, Michael Lester, Neville Budhai, and Milton Messam, alongside the record sleeve illustrations of Tony McDermott, whose bold graphics and vivid storytelling shaped the look of Jamaican music. These influences continue to inform my practice, where crisp linework, layered colour, and a graphic precision echo poster culture while I explore how joy, pain, defiance, and satire coexist in Caribbean cultural expression.

My work has been exhibited internationally at the Ki...

BA (Hons) Painting, University of the Arts London, UK, 2004
Diploma in Studio Arts, Capilano College, British Columbia, Canada, 2000

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 — The Dragon, Trafo Hause, Kassel, Germany & Alice Yard, Port au Prince, Trinidad
2019 — Stepping Into The Role, Suite 7a, Sydney, Australia
2017 — Bulls Eye, Feel the Vibe Pop Up, Jamaica Tourist Board, Vancouver, Canada
2015 — Yard Illuminations, Vivid Sydney Festival, Play Bar, Sydney, Australia
2015 — Dancing Words: the DHQ Edition, Blacklisted Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2014 — Dancing Words: the Stylish Moves Edition, Blacklisted Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2013 — Dancing Words, Blacklisted Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2012 — Badda Dan Dem Star, China Heights Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia
2012 — Dancing Words, The Tate Gallery, Glebe, Sydney, Australia

Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 — One Nation, New Symbols, National Gallery Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica
2025 — Due West, National Gallery West, Montego Bay, Jamaica
2024 — Cyan Stall 2024, CreativSpace, Kingston, Jamaica
2022 — Pressure, Kingston Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica
2019 — The Exhibition Project, City Recital Hall, Sydney, Australia
2019 — Due West, National Gallery West, Montego Bay, Jamaica
2018 — Let There Be Reggae, Miami Art Week, Wynwood Art District, Miami, USA
2018 — Out of Many, Kennedy Center, Washington DC, U...