Robert Gilbert

My images employ the concept of a personal mythology, a working visual language to tell one’s story. I
often use a common, everyday object as an icon. A personal icon is like a button, hard and shiny on the
mythological clothing that keeps us from the elements, the raw flux and flow of life. I’m interested in the
classical world view, which did not see the same split between body and mind, dark and light as our present
time. Divinity was thought to be immersed in all matter, so the substance of the world itself was divine.
All phases of existence and all expressions had a place in daily life.  An everyday household object can be
thought of as containing an earthly divinity, which can be celebrated with the simple act of it’s use.  Any work
with a tool can be a ritual of sorts, and all labor puts one in alignment with the forces that are building the
universe.