A striking combination of bold line and layered motifs, Toby by London-born, Melbourne-based artist Roy Wilkins is the coalescence of the artist’s instinctual approach to mark-making and his environment. Embracing a truly expressionist style, the artist works and reworks his large canvases, applying acrylic atop spray paint on stencil and pastel. An artwork seemingly finished will find a new direction as the artist’s mood shifts, often guided by the ever-changing playlist of music that invariably accompanies him in the studio. In Toby, we can see the artist began with a layer of moody blues and reds, which Wilkins has then blanketed with graffiti-inspired linework. At some point in this spontaneous process, the artist understood that the canvas needed to be spun 180 degrees, leaving some portions of the paintwork seeming to splatter against the pull of gravity. Text peeks out here and there, acting as pattern and texture rather than as a bearer of meaning. Finally, a face emerges, its contours quickly sketched in streaks of vivid orange, and any extraneous parts of the surface covered over in a thick wash of grey-white. Toby is a harmony of colour, line and detail, laboriously made and remade until it reaches its final crescendo.
Above: Roy Wilkins, Toby, 2024. Mixed media on canvas, 178 x 122cm. $6000. Courtesy: the artist.