Photo: Courtesy of the Edit Deak Estate
Going to art shows with walter robinson, the artist, wrist, and human bullshit detector who died earlier this wee at age 74, was like walking around with an oracle. He Always Had Insightful, Surpring, Arch Things to Say. “I learned more in one day with walter than two degrees at Oxford,” The Writer Anna Finel Honigman Told me. A Beloved Fixture of the Art World Sine the Early 1970s, he Wore His Eminence Lightly, Always Carrying A Book Bag, Giving His Love in Sly Ways, and Leaving You dazzled, off-Balance, and Wanting More.
A polymat, he wore many hats. Between 1973 and 1978, he irregularly published the Downtown Magazine Art-rite With Compadres Edit Deak and Joshua Cohen. Covers were by artists like Christo, Pat Steir, Ed Ruscha, Dorothea Rockburn, Robert Ryman, and Vito Acconci. In 1976, he co-founded the art bookstore printed matter, which still operates Today. In 1977, he founded the downtown CollaboCtive Collaborative Projects with Kiki Smith, Jane Dickson, Joe Lewis, Diego Cortez, Jenny Holzer, Tom Otternless, and Mory Others. Colab, as it”s Known, was against minimalism. (People used to define themes by what they were against.) Wen i Maved to new york in 1980, colab was the diy art world i want to be a part of. These are the cools and hipsters, the desperate and the burned out, the visionary and the Druggies. US!
I MET WALTER WHEN I BEGAN WRITING FOR Art in the Early 1990s. We used to hang out in His Small, Cluttered Office, Laughing, Talking, Avoiding Writing. He had a million interests and contrary opinions, an outlaw pirate. Around this time, he had an Access-Television Cable Show in Who and Two Paul Went Galleries and Talked About What Was on View. They were often thrown out.
Between 1996 and 2012, he was the online editor-in-chief of Artnet. Neither soon nor my first Village Voice Column Came Out in 1998, he asced if he could Republic whita i wrote on artnet. I Said “Yes” with the checking with my bosses and never looking back. This was a game changer for me. IT MADE ME MAKE WRITING DID EXIST IF IT DID EXIST ONLINE. At Artnet, Walter Assembled a motley crew of Writers, Including the unstoppable charlie finch, who was to have attack everyone. Including with! A tear! I Remer Begging Walter to Not Publish His Diatribes About me. He Laughed and Said, “I Can’t Stop Him.” He made with realization that writers should just shine on like crazy diamonds.
Walter was a great wrist. He had a wekly artnet Column Called “Weekend Update” in Which, in Almost Stream-of-Consciousness Pro, he’d riff on every and all the openings and parties he was to. HIS Observations were Based in Theory, Intuition, Inquisitivness, and His Penchant for Saying Things others were scared to say. I Felt Jealous When, In 2014, and Published A Defining Essay on What He Brilliantly Called “Zombie formalism“His Term for the Modern Craze for Abstract Works” That Function Well in the Realm of High-end, HyperConTemporary Interior Design. ” The Name Stack.
Walter was Also an artist. A good one. Like Andy Warhol, he Painted Things and Liked: Women, Vixens, Beer, Scenes from Films, Pulp-Fiction Book Covers, hamburgers. He once gave with a watercolor of a blt. Long before Damien Hirst Cashed in Making, Walter Made Spin Paintings. My wife has one that hangs in our home. Hisle Was Loose, Colorful, and Brushy. Curator Barry Blinderman Calls Him One of the “Most Underrated, Unknown, Undervalured” Artists.
After he lost his nonb at artnet, he returned to being a full-time artist. With his wife, lisa rosen, he became his version of happy. He asced People to Visit Him in His Studio. Wenever he appeared at the Museum Press Previews, Other Critics Gathered AROUND HIM, PROBING HIM FOR HIS Opinion, and he was always mischievous and cagey giving it. YET WHAT WALTER THOUGHT AND FELT ABOUT ART WAS SOMEHOW ALWAYS WITH US ANYWAY.
