> CV / BIOGRAPHY
Robin is an artist and collector of everyday stuff with a playful approach to hoarding. He uses ad-hoc casting processes and printing techniques to make work that features facsimiles of recognisable things, future fossils and technological relics. His research leads him to explore in-between places, industrial landscapes and environments in flux, and the act of walking, finding and discovering source materials is a big part of how he engages with the world around him. His practice often incorporates a performative ‘working in the field’ approach and he has a speculative lure for failed, obsolete or perishable subject matter. From walking the entire 38km length of Sunset Blvd during a residency in downtown Los Angeles, to making work inside Wylfa - the last Nuclear Power Station in Wales (now decommissioned). Recent projects include plaster casting dead jellyfish washed up on a Welsh beach, and In 2024 he won the Eilean Shona Residency awarded by the Royal Society of Sculptors where he has just come back from spending a month alone making work on a Scottish wilderness island.
Robin Tarbet (born 1981, Somerset UK) studied at the Royal College of Art and is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors in London. Tarbet’s work combines printmaking and casting with live film and photography. He is the founder of self publishing initiative Swap Art Editions and co-directs Object | Multiple with Duncan Wooldridge. A regular Visiting Lecturer across a number of universities, a Mentor with the charity Arts Emergency and a former Studio Director at Creekside Artists. As well as making his own work, Tarbet regularly works on commissions and fabrication projects for international artists, designers, architects and commercial clients to help fund his studio in London.
Robin is an artist and collector of everyday stuff with a playful approach to hoarding. He uses ad-hoc casting processes and printing techniques to make work that features facsimiles of recognisable things, future fossils and technological relics. His research leads him to explore in-between places, industrial landscapes and environments in flux, and the act of walking, finding and discovering source materials is a big part of how he engages with the world around him. His practice often incorporates a performative ‘working in the field’ approach and he has a speculative lure for failed, obsolete or perishable subject matter. From walking the entire 38km length of Sunset Blvd during a residency in downtown Los Angeles, to making work inside Wylfa - the last Nuclear Power Station in Wales (now decommissioned). Recent projects include plaster casting dead jellyfish washed up on a Welsh beach, and In 2024 he won the Eilean Shona Residency awarded by the Royal Society of Sculptors where he has just come back from spending a month alone making work on a Scottish wilderness island.
Robin Tarbet (born 1981, Somerset UK) studied at the Royal College of Art and is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors in London. Tarbet’s work combines printmaking and casting with live film and photography. He is the founder of self publishing initiative Swap Art Editions and co-directs Object | Multiple with Duncan Wooldridge. A regular Visiting Lecturer across a number of universities, a Mentor with the charity Arts Emergency and a former Studio Director at Creekside Artists. As well as making his own work, Tarbet regularly works on commissions and fabrication projects for international artists, designers, architects and commercial clients to help fund his studio in London.
EDUCATION:
2004-2006: MA Fine Art Printmaking at The Royal College of Art London
2001-2004: BA Hon’s Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and Design
2000-2001: Art and Design Foundation National Diploma at Trowbridge (now called The Wiltshire College)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
06/2025: CASTAWAYS - Limbo (Margate)
03/2014: ROBIN TARBET SELECTED WORKS AT THE BLUECOAT - Upper Vide Gallery (Liverpool)
10/2012: MONITORED LANDSCAPE - Black Swan Arts Centre Frome (Somerset)
01/2010: INDIRECT LAND - Trafo Gallery (Budapest)
10/2007: MONITORED LANDSCAPE No.9 - Outpost Gallery (Norwich)
CURATED / COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS:
05/2025: Object | Multiple - A Bigger Book Fair (London)
12/2023: Object | Multiple - Exhibition at The Penn Theatre (London)
11/2023: Object | Multiple - Bound Book Arts Fair (Manchester)
02/2023: Object | Multiple - Camberwell Multiples Fair
08/2022: Object | Multiple - online platform for artist multiples
02/2020: SWAP Editions 5 : ISLAND Creekside Projects (London)
02/2020: ANOMALY – Duo exhibition with Mark Scott-Wood Creekside Projects (London)
02/2020: Art You An Island? Swap Editions virtual project with www.Skelf.org.uk
03/2019: SWAP Editions 4 : BREX-kit – Creekside Projects (London)
09/2018: Labour Exchange – Exhibition of 10 artists – Creekside Projects (London)
04/2018: SWAP Editions 3 : ARTIST AS MACHINE – New Shoreditch Theatre
01/2018: The Prosumer Galleries – The Great Medical Disaster (Manchester)
09/2017: SWAP Editions 2 : TRADE - Art licks / Set projects Bermondsey
03/2017: AD HOC : SWAP Editions - Castor Projects (London)
06/2016: Power In The Land X10 film screening – Mostyn Gallery (Llandudno)
10/2015: POWER IN THE LAND X10 film screening - Modern Art (Oxford)
05/2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD 2 - Project Number (London)
02/2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD - Residency and exhibition Rogue Studios Project Space (Manchester)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
11/2025: STAGE III by LLE PROJECTS - Mirror (Plymouth)
10/2025: STAGE II by LLE PROJECTS - Bay Arts (Cardiff)
10/2025: SUMMER SHOW - Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
10/2024: TABLE TOP MUSEUM - The Art Workers Guild (London)
01/2024: UNCERTAIN OBJECTS : PART 1 - Shop Work, Frome (Somerset)
11/2023: LET THEM EAT CAKE - Bad Art Presents / Soho (London)
05/2023: RADIANT OBJECTS - Fringe Arts Bath Festival (Bath)
02/2023: STAGE LLE PROJECTS @ Kingsgate Project Space (London)
08/2022: TESTING GROUNDS - Filet Space (London)
02/2022: MELTDOWN - Ridley Road Project Space - Hackney (London)
10/2019: HUMDRUM – The Store Gallery - Dulwich College (London)
01/2019: MADELEINE – Patrick Heide Gallery (London)
02/2017: POWER IN THE LAND – Bay Art (Cardiff)
01/2017: THE COLLECTIVISTS – Brand Library Art Gallery (Los Angeles)
05/2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Aberystwyth)
02/2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Oriel Davies Gallery (Powys)
09/2015: HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS – Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery (London)
08/2014: CITIES OF ASH – G39 Gallery (Cardiff)
03/2014: SPECULATIVE FUTURES - A-Side B-Side Gallery (London)
11/2013: ALTER // SHIFT // CONTROL – The Bermondsey Projects (London)
10/2013: THE HANOVER PROJECT – University of Central Lancashire
05/2013: THE TOMORROW PEOPLE – Elevator Gallery (London)
08/2012: PING PONG TABLE - Commission permanently installed in Soho Square (London)
06/2012: RA SUMMER SHOW 2012 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
04/2012: IMPRINT - Kingston University Platform Gallery (London)
01/2012: BLACK SWAN OPEN - Awarded Special Commendation (Frome)
06/2011: RA SUMMER SHOW 2011 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05/2010: CU - at Future Everything Festival (Manchester)
09/2009: PAPER CITY : URBAN UTOPIAS - at the Royal Academy of Arts (London)
07/2009: EAST INTERNATIONAL - Norwich University College of Art (Norwich)
05/2009: FIRST SHOW - Achromat Gallery (Brighton)
06/2008: CAMBERWELL GREEN - House Gallery / Camberwell Arts Festival (London)
05/2008: SALIVATE - Anglia Square Shopping Centre (Norwich)
04/2007: TRANSFORMER - Exhibition & Symposium Woburn Research Centre (london)
03/2007: IS THE WORLD OURS? - Bargate Monument Gallery (Southampton)
03/2007: [DOT] PARTY - The Hayward Gallery (London)
06/2006: RA SUMMER SHOW 2006 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05/2006: GENERATION - Show One Royal College of Art (London)
04/2006: PLATFORM FOR ART - Various Tube Locations (London)
02/2006: LETS RIOT - Café Gallery Projects (London)
01/2006: ART BELOW ZERO - The Westbourne Studios (London)
12/2005: SEEING THE LIGHT - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
07/2005: ENNON & CO - Group show in office space (London)
09/2004: NORWICH FRINGE FESTIVAL - Balley Shoe Factory (Norwich)
08/2004: EYE TEST - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
AWARDS / FELLOWSHIPS:
10/2023: MRSS at The Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
09/2006: THE STANLEY PICKER TUTORSHIP IN FINE ART (Print) at Kingston University.
GRANTS / COMMISSIONS / RESIDENCIES:
03/2024: EILEAN SHONA - Royal Society of Sculptors Residency (Scotland)
07/2015: ESXLA International – Residency July 2015 (Los Angeles)
05/2013: (Final Shortlist) The Contemporary Art Fellowship at The Rome School
06/2012: London Cultural Olympics - Table Tennis Table commission for Ping London.
01/2009: Grants for the Arts – Individual Lottery Grant for Monitored Landscape Series
PUBLICATIONS / REVIEWS:
05/2022: Techno Fossils by Lara Chapman in Disegno Journal
02/2017: Swap Editions text for Gate Keeper Magazine 2020
03/2020: The Common Good - by Karl England for Sluice Magazine 2020.
02/2017: ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS OF A NUCLEAR POWER STATION: by Stephen Clark www.thedoublenegative.co.uk
10/2016: THE NUCLEAR CULTURES SOURCE BOOK – Edited by Ele Carpenter ISBN 9781911164050
02/2016: POWER IN THE LAND ISBN: 978-1-78280-732-2 www.powerintheland.co.uk
04/2014: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPULSE: The Double Negative by Stephen Clarke www.thedoublenegative.co.uk
04/2014: WALL STREET INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE - www.wsimagazine.com
03/2014: TUSK JOURNAL – Tuskjournal.com Exhibition review by Ashleigh Owen
10/2012: TANGENT ZINE – Designed and Edited by Karen Ay
05/2012: ARC 16 THE DEATH ISSUE - www.rcamagazine.co.uk
12/2010: EAST GOES EAST CATALOGUE - ISBN: 1-8-7224-28-92-9 Co-ordinator - Eleanor Cherry
07/2009: EAST 2009 - THE BOOK - ISBN: 1-872482-90-2 Editor - Lynda Morris
07/2009: EAST INTERNATIONAL REVIEW www.frieze.com/shows/review/east_international by Chris Fite-Wassilak
09/2007: PAPER CITY - Blueprint Magazine Editor Tim Abrahams
06/2006: GENERATION RCA SHOW CATALOGUE - ISBN: 1-905000-25-1
10/2007: MONITORED LANDSCAPE / OUTPOST REVIEW - a&n Magazine by Mark Wilsher
EDUCATION:
2004-2006: MA Fine Art Printmaking at The Royal College of Art London
2001-2004: BA Hon’s Fine Art at Norwich School of Art and Design
2000-2001: Art and Design Foundation National Diploma at Trowbridge (now called The Wiltshire College)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
06/2025: CASTAWAYS - Limbo (Margate)
03/2014: ROBIN TARBET SELECTED WORKS AT THE BLUECOAT - Upper Vide Gallery (Liverpool)
10/2012: MONITORED LANDSCAPE - Black Swan Arts Centre Frome (Somerset)
01/2010: INDIRECT LAND - Trafo Gallery (Budapest)
10/2007: MONITORED LANDSCAPE No.9 - Outpost Gallery (Norwich)
CURATED / COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS:
05/2025: Object | Multiple - A Bigger Book Fair (London)
12/2023: Object | Multiple - Exhibition at The Penn Theatre (London)
11/2023: Object | Multiple - Bound Book Arts Fair (Manchester)
02/2023: Object | Multiple - Camberwell Multiples Fair
08/2022: Object | Multiple - online platform for artist multiples
02/2020: SWAP Editions 5 : ISLAND Creekside Projects (London)
02/2020: ANOMALY – Duo exhibition with Mark Scott-Wood Creekside Projects (London)
02/2020: Art You An Island? Swap Editions virtual project with www.Skelf.org.uk
03/2019: SWAP Editions 4 : BREX-kit – Creekside Projects (London)
09/2018: Labour Exchange – Exhibition of 10 artists – Creekside Projects (London)
04/2018: SWAP Editions 3 : ARTIST AS MACHINE – New Shoreditch Theatre
01/2018: The Prosumer Galleries – The Great Medical Disaster (Manchester)
09/2017: SWAP Editions 2 : TRADE - Art licks / Set projects Bermondsey
03/2017: AD HOC : SWAP Editions - Castor Projects (London)
06/2016: Power In The Land X10 film screening – Mostyn Gallery (Llandudno)
10/2015: POWER IN THE LAND X10 film screening - Modern Art (Oxford)
05/2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD 2 - Project Number (London)
02/2012: TOMORROW’S WORLD - Residency and exhibition Rogue Studios Project Space (Manchester)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
11/2025: STAGE III by LLE PROJECTS - Mirror (Plymouth)
10/2025: STAGE II by LLE PROJECTS - Bay Arts (Cardiff)
10/2025: SUMMER SHOW - Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
10/2024: TABLE TOP MUSEUM - The Art Workers Guild (London)
01/2024: UNCERTAIN OBJECTS : PART 1 - Shop Work, Frome (Somerset)
11/2023: LET THEM EAT CAKE - Bad Art Presents / Soho (London)
05/2023: RADIANT OBJECTS - Fringe Arts Bath Festival (Bath)
02/2023: STAGE LLE PROJECTS @ Kingsgate Project Space (London)
08/2022: TESTING GROUNDS - Filet Space (London)
02/2022: MELTDOWN - Ridley Road Project Space - Hackney (London)
10/2019: HUMDRUM – The Store Gallery - Dulwich College (London)
01/2019: MADELEINE – Patrick Heide Gallery (London)
02/2017: POWER IN THE LAND – Bay Art (Cardiff)
01/2017: THE COLLECTIVISTS – Brand Library Art Gallery (Los Angeles)
05/2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Aberystwyth)
02/2016: POWER IN THE LAND - Oriel Davies Gallery (Powys)
09/2015: HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS – Lubomirov / Angus-Hughes Gallery (London)
08/2014: CITIES OF ASH – G39 Gallery (Cardiff)
03/2014: SPECULATIVE FUTURES - A-Side B-Side Gallery (London)
11/2013: ALTER // SHIFT // CONTROL – The Bermondsey Projects (London)
10/2013: THE HANOVER PROJECT – University of Central Lancashire
05/2013: THE TOMORROW PEOPLE – Elevator Gallery (London)
08/2012: PING PONG TABLE - Commission permanently installed in Soho Square (London)
06/2012: RA SUMMER SHOW 2012 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
04/2012: IMPRINT - Kingston University Platform Gallery (London)
01/2012: BLACK SWAN OPEN - Awarded Special Commendation (Frome)
06/2011: RA SUMMER SHOW 2011 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05/2010: CU - at Future Everything Festival (Manchester)
09/2009: PAPER CITY : URBAN UTOPIAS - at the Royal Academy of Arts (London)
07/2009: EAST INTERNATIONAL - Norwich University College of Art (Norwich)
05/2009: FIRST SHOW - Achromat Gallery (Brighton)
06/2008: CAMBERWELL GREEN - House Gallery / Camberwell Arts Festival (London)
05/2008: SALIVATE - Anglia Square Shopping Centre (Norwich)
04/2007: TRANSFORMER - Exhibition & Symposium Woburn Research Centre (london)
03/2007: IS THE WORLD OURS? - Bargate Monument Gallery (Southampton)
03/2007: [DOT] PARTY - The Hayward Gallery (London)
06/2006: RA SUMMER SHOW 2006 - Royal Academy of The Arts (London)
05/2006: GENERATION - Show One Royal College of Art (London)
04/2006: PLATFORM FOR ART - Various Tube Locations (London)
02/2006: LETS RIOT - Café Gallery Projects (London)
01/2006: ART BELOW ZERO - The Westbourne Studios (London)
12/2005: SEEING THE LIGHT - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
07/2005: ENNON & CO - Group show in office space (London)
09/2004: NORWICH FRINGE FESTIVAL - Balley Shoe Factory (Norwich)
08/2004: EYE TEST - The Stephen Lawrence Gallery (London)
AWARDS / FELLOWSHIPS:
10/2023: MRSS at The Royal Society of Sculptors (London)
09/2006: THE STANLEY PICKER TUTORSHIP IN FINE ART (Print) at Kingston University.
GRANTS / COMMISSIONS / RESIDENCIES:
03/2024: EILEAN SHONA - Royal Society of Sculptors Residency (Scotland)
07/2015: ESXLA International – Residency July 2015 (Los Angeles)
05/2013: (Final Shortlist) The Contemporary Art Fellowship at The Rome School
06/2012: London Cultural Olympics - Table Tennis Table commission for Ping London.
01/2009: Grants for the Arts – Individual Lottery Grant for Monitored Landscape Series
PUBLICATIONS / REVIEWS:
05/2022: Techno Fossils by Lara Chapman in Disegno Journal
02/2017: Swap Editions text for Gate Keeper Magazine 2020
03/2020: The Common Good - by Karl England for Sluice Magazine 2020.
02/2017: ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS OF A NUCLEAR POWER STATION: by Stephen Clark www.thedoublenegative.co.uk
10/2016: THE NUCLEAR CULTURES SOURCE BOOK – Edited by Ele Carpenter ISBN 9781911164050
02/2016: POWER IN THE LAND ISBN: 978-1-78280-732-2 www.powerintheland.co.uk
04/2014: AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPULSE: The Double Negative by Stephen Clarke www.thedoublenegative.co.uk
04/2014: WALL STREET INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE - www.wsimagazine.com
03/2014: TUSK JOURNAL – Tuskjournal.com Exhibition review by Ashleigh Owen
10/2012: TANGENT ZINE – Designed and Edited by Karen Ay
05/2012: ARC 16 THE DEATH ISSUE - www.rcamagazine.co.uk
12/2010: EAST GOES EAST CATALOGUE - ISBN: 1-8-7224-28-92-9 Co-ordinator - Eleanor Cherry
07/2009: EAST 2009 - THE BOOK - ISBN: 1-872482-90-2 Editor - Lynda Morris
07/2009: EAST INTERNATIONAL REVIEW www.frieze.com/shows/review/east_international by Chris Fite-Wassilak
09/2007: PAPER CITY - Blueprint Magazine Editor Tim Abrahams
06/2006: GENERATION RCA SHOW CATALOGUE - ISBN: 1-905000-25-1
10/2007: MONITORED LANDSCAPE / OUTPOST REVIEW - a&n Magazine by Mark Wilsher
> SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY
Teaching is an important aspect to my practice as an artist and I have over 15 years of lecturing experience within fine art courses at university level. I regularly get invited as a Visiting Lecturer to give artist talks about my research and practise to institutions including the University of the Creative Arts, Goldsmiths, UAL Camberwell, Lincoln, Ravensbourne, The Princes Drawing School, The Art Academy, Brighton and Falmouth Schools of Art and Design. As well as higher education teaching I have run arts education workshops for a number of museums and organisations, and deliver one to one research and development sessions for artists in my studio. I have volunteered as a Mentor with the charity Arts Emergency since 2012.
Teaching is an important aspect to my practice as an artist and I have over 15 years of lecturing experience within fine art courses at university level. I regularly get invited as a Visiting Lecturer to give artist talks about my research and practise to institutions including the University of the Creative Arts, Goldsmiths, UAL Camberwell, Lincoln, Ravensbourne, The Princes Drawing School, The Art Academy, Brighton and Falmouth Schools of Art and Design. As well as higher education teaching I have run arts education workshops for a number of museums and organisations, and deliver one to one research and development sessions for artists in my studio. I have volunteered as a Mentor with the charity Arts Emergency since 2012.
10/2023 – 06/2024: Sessional Tutor for International Foundation Diploma in Art Design and Media at UCA Farnham
04/2022 – 06/2023: Sessional Tutor for Foundation Diploma in Art Design and Media at UCA Farnham
09/2021 – 12/2021: Lead Tutor - Performance & Spacial Construction (10 week course) The Art Academy London
09/2009 – 06/2019: Senior Lecturer in Fine Art Foundation Studies at Kingston University
09/2012 – 06/2013: Fixed term 1 year VL contract on Fine Art Extension Degree at Goldsmiths
09/2009 – 09/2010: Senior Lecturer in Sculpture (maternity cover) at Norwich University of Art (NUA)
09/2007 – 09/2009: HPL on Foundation Studies in Art / Design at Kingston University
09/2006 - 05/2012: HPL in Fine Art (Print and Sculpture) at Norwich University of Art (NUA)
04/2022 – 06/2023: Sessional Tutor for Foundation Diploma in Art Design and Media at UCA Farnham
09/2021 – 12/2021: Lead Tutor - Performance & Spacial Construction (10 week course) The Art Academy London
09/2009 – 06/2019: Senior Lecturer in Fine Art Foundation Studies at Kingston University
09/2012 – 06/2013: Fixed term 1 year VL contract on Fine Art Extension Degree at Goldsmiths
09/2009 – 09/2010: Senior Lecturer in Sculpture (maternity cover) at Norwich University of Art (NUA)
09/2007 – 09/2009: HPL on Foundation Studies in Art / Design at Kingston University
09/2006 - 05/2012: HPL in Fine Art (Print and Sculpture) at Norwich University of Art (NUA)