CityView Magazine

42 | July/August 2015 Fabrics on fabrics point of perspective. ey know what this per- son looks like and so they see what I am doing." So far, Robbers says that his family has been very supportive, even if sometimes they don't entirely "get it." "I don't know that my mom usually under- stands what I'm doing," Robbers said. "Why don't you paint normal people? Why do they have to be blue or green?' A lot of the colors come from the fact that a lot of my paintings in the past had been very dull and as an artist I had always been scared of color, because I guess I didn't feel I understood it." He continued, "color has an emotional quality to it. I am currently investigating how color changes your perspec- tive of the subject. A person's reaction to a green Elizabeth Taylor is very different. Color is a per- sonalized thing. It is not just aesthetic qualities, it is how color affects an image, and how that af- fects the viewer. ese aren't things I have typi- cally had to put to words." According to Robbers, the famous faces he has drawn inspiration from so far, were not cho- sen at random or based on their popularity, but rather on the significance each individual has had on him growing up. "It is one of those things that really comes down to people who have influenced me, so I do a lot of art of writers and artists," Robbers said. "And everyone I paint, even if I paint someone in real life, like a commission, I feel like I should meet and know them. I need to talk to them. I feel a personal connection makes for a better painting. It is one of those things, you know? I feel that it is always good to get a feel for that person's personality, so that I can try to rein- force that person's personality on the canvas." Surprisingly, Robbers initially had no plans to make his work available to the public, hav- ing been content to let his work gather dust in his living room. at is until a recent visit from a longtime friend forced him to reconsider his work's value to the public at large. "We went over to his lo in October just to hang out and he had that Salvador Dali painting in his living room, as well as the Audrey Hep- burn," said longtime friend Mary Jane Howder. "I just had to take a picture. I said to him, 'Why aren't you showing these to people?' and he just said, 'I don't know. I just paint.'" Howder has known Robbers' since they took art classes at Cape Fear High School. She has been a big help in helping him promote his art around downtown Fayetteville. "e Chamber is now talking about doing a show and a couple of artists friends are trying to get him to display Robbers' growing collection of artwork Pop Art of Danny DeVito

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