The Pink Gaurdian Print

Ravell Robinson has devoted his life to creating a time machine to transport himself to a magnificent wonderland. In paintings bright with color and imagination he strives to recapture the sensation we all felt when first realizing that the world is filled with marvelous things. His is a landscape filled with fantastic creatures, extinct animals and mythical beasts that live and thrive with concerns, both great and small, that mirror our own.   Born and raised an hour north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ravell Robinson, aka RavellXIV, is an autistic, self-taught artist who spent years seeking a medium to share the stories in his head. Starting with a story, idea or theme and working primarily in acrylics, Ravell renders his visions in a palette of bright primary colors sometimes straight from the tube. His drawing is even more daring, with creatures and elements based on his inner vision of shapes and lines that seek to describe the stories in his mental landscape. Interwoven throughout his paintings are carefully chosen and rendered elements that are sometimes descriptive, sometimes decorative, but always adding to the narrative in his work.   Strongly influenced by the artwork of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Keith Harring, Ravell is perhaps even more inspired by the history of life on earth and the evolutionary and cultural marvels and mysteries it holds. Great beasts from eons past mingle with contemporary icons and Ravell’s childhood dream of becoming a paleontologist comes full circle in the reverence he has for this expansive grand sweep of time. In his own words, “My work is where the past meets my present.”