Freddie Robins

http://www.freddierobins.com/

UK Textile Knit Artist

Artist's Statement

My studio practice questions conformity and notions of normality, and intersects the categorisation of art and craft. I use knitting to explore pertinent contemporary issues of the domestic, gender and the human condition. I find knitting to be a powerful medium for self-expression and communication because of the cultural preconceptions surrounding it. My work subverts these preconceptions and disrupts the notion of the medium being passive and benign. My ideas are expressed through an exploration of the human form and have resulted in pieces such as "Odd Gloves" and "Odd Sweaters". These series question physical normality incorporating both humour and fear. The titles are important. I like to play on words to make visual suggestions: "Hand of Good, Hand of God" and "Skin - a good thing to live in". In "Anyway" I explore value and scale through the production of a large knitted sculpture made on CAD controlled industrial machinery. My most recent body of work, "The Perfect", further explores the potential of industrial technology. I have been producing knitted multiples through the use of a Shima Seiki WholeGarment® machine (a computerised, automated, industrial V-bed flat machine, which is capable of knitting a three-dimensional seamless garment).   These multiples take the form of life size, three-dimensional human bodies. I have combined them in a variety of different ways to create large-scale installations. These works question conformity and notions of standardization and perfection.