In linguistics ‘filled pauses’ are words or sounds that mask interruptions to the flow of speech: uh, um, er, etc. As the somewhat contradictory term suggests, a ‘filled pause’ represents a failure of communication that simultaneously communicates an impression of hesitation, doubt and a lack of mastery. Charles Robb's practice reflects his interested in sculpting the kinds of unintentional expressions he notices in his studio mirror during the modelling process: expressions such as concentration, tiredness or doubt. At first incidental and fleeting, these expressions subsequently become highly rehearsed, practised over and over in the mirror until a resemblance has been achieved in plasticine. In effect, these expressions are the facial equivalent of the ‘filled pause’ – gestures that mask the absence of any clear content. The architectonic certainty of the portrait bust and its base provides a backdrop against which the diffidence of these expressions (like the precariousness of the plaster bucket leftovers that accompany them) can be observed. What results is not simply a portrait of the artist, but a portrait of a practice.
Read MoreCharles Robb is a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne but now based in Brisbane. Robb’s work has been seen in numerous group and solo exhibitions including The Day the Machine Started, (dianne tanzer gallery + projects, Melbourne Art Fair 2010), Scope Miami Art Fair (with Hous Projects, USA, 2009), Millwork (dianne tanzer gallery + projects, 2009), Temperature: Contemporary Queensland Sculpture (Museum of Brisbane, 2004), Gulliver’s Travels (Monash University Museum of Art and interstate venues, 2002-4), Support (Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2000) and Primavera (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2000).
Amongst various public collections, Robb’s work features in the National Gallery of Victoria, MONA, Artbank, and the Latrobe University Art Museum. He currently holds the position of Associate Lecturer at the University of Southern Qld, Toowoomba and Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.