Her digital images include tall cacti against an orange wall, hot-pink-tipped succulents, blue sunflowers. There are cows and horses, cars and cityscapes, industrial machinery and abstractions. Kim Robbins is both a photographer and an abstract painter, and sometimes even her photographs look a lot like paintings.
“I call myself a colorist because there are lots and lots of decision making,” she says. “In the darkroom, you were dodging and burning and
making choices; now I call it the ‘lightroom,’ you’re still making all those decisions, but without the chemistry.”
A thread of design-savvy runs in the family; Robbins’ grandfather was an interior designer. Earlier in her career, Robbins worked as a model and then as a stylist creating backdrops for photoshoots. Since she married photographer Peter Robbins, best known for his Western work, the couple has
collaborated. They spent several years shooting Neiman Marcus Christmas catalogs.
“I love pairing art with environments,” Kim says.
Kim is obviously comfortable in a retail setting. Pottery Barn and West Elm stores in Fort Worth, Southlake, and Dallas have hosted her for weekslong stints in the store, where customers can view her work in person, see how it looks with residential furnishings and visit with the artist. Too, Kim and Peter frequently exhibit together at the National Cutting Horse Association shows at Will Rogers Memorial Center.
The face time has paid off; not only has Robbins met individual clients, but she has also worked with some designers as well.
Jennifer Kostohryz, co-owner of Fort Design Studio, picked up a few pieces for her own home. Anne McBurnett, an interior designer for Komatsu Architecture, enlisted both Kim and Peter to provide works for the American National Bank of Texas on West 7th Street. Designer Brett McPherson installed some of Kim’s photography of succulents in a home in Oklahoma. For another family home, Kim sized abstract photos to fit panels that conceal a large television.
Published in the Winter 2017 edition of 360West Magazine | View Source
