Neon nights are brought to life within Robert Yarber’s paintings. The large-scale paintings in Nicodim Gallery’s survey of his works bring viewers along for a wild ride. Whether it’s pulling us into a dark hotel room, lit solely by the blue light of a droning, static television set, or throwing us outside, into the life of the party, and possibly, over the balcony and into the air- we are left in suspense of what comes next. It’s as if we were sitting in a dark movie theater, watching someone’s life story unfold.
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Suspended high above the glittering landscapes that he depicts below, a feeling of vertigo becomes an understatement. Regard and Abandon, the title of the exhibition, are both shown within all of his figures that are depicted on the highly contrasted, captivatingly colored canvases: regard for the party and enjoyment of the excess it brings and abandon for any way of hitting the ground below safely. In the larger canvases, measuring a pretty expansive 72 in by 132 in, the paintings begin to resemble that of a movie screen. The scene before us pulls us inside a panoramic view of fast paced, Vegas style settings that we can only bear witness to. It’s as if we are still on the balcony, off screen, looking over it, right after one of Yarber’s characters took the leap.
The newer work from 2018, Crowds and Power, is still highly contrasted and expansive in composition and space as his previous works. Yarber is well versed in showing his characters’ lives in the “fast lane.” The addition of hazes from an airbrush continues his classic distance blurs and further pushes the fast-paced feeling of his paintings. While the older works weave in well as if they were all scenes of some new neo-noir film. Both his paint strokes and color choices are confident and consistent—Yarber knows what colors will build up, contrast well, and create a burning, acidic sky that both seductively mesmerizes us and possibly leaves us wondering what may cause such neon glares. His pieces certainly have the up-close pull with the figures, but his distance shots are also very impressive. He builds the scene around him, with his backgrounds helping to tell the story. The depth within each piece, such as Error’s Conquest, pulls you in and expands even further once you are inside the scene.
The artist’s interest in film is evident—the stark film-noir contrasts like those within Raw Deal (1948), the neon green glows from Hitchcock, or the expansive “long shots” that one may find when watching one of John Ford’s westerns such as the Searchers, all show through within Yarber’s compositions.
The drawings inside the back room are also quite the trip. The colors are still very vibrant, but by using many strokes of pencil and pastel, chaotically controlled and built up as if Yarber was making his character auxiliary Jack (whom we see in many of the pieces touting a large cigar) come to life right on the paper. The drawings, like Corpus Ressurrectum Est. 2010, take us on an episodic journey of Auxiliary Jack, often narrated by phrases Yarber may include within the piece, as he meanders through this fantasy, sub/unconscious world. This world is reminiscent of a dreamscape or a mirage where a casino may pop up out of nowhere, or you may suddenly find yourself in a boat, tipping off the edge of the world without even expecting it.
Yarber hasn’t had a large exhibition in New York like this since 2009 with Sonnabend, but this survey of paintings and drawings, both old and new, shows why Yarber is a great influence amongst many artists and filmmakers, after about 5 decades of taking the decadence of the Vegas strip or a Hollywood afterparty to the canvas, Yarber is making his own films with paint. Diving into the darker sides to human indulgences and highlighting the joys and perils of excess, Yarber continues to explore the human subconscious of regard and abandon.
Robert Yarber: Regard and Abandon at Nicodim Gallery, 15 Greene Street, New York, NY, through March 22nd, 2025, @nicodimgallery
About the Writer: Taylor Bielecki lives in Gowanus, where her studio is, and works at Pratt Institute, where she earned her MFA, she also studied at Penn State, where she earned a BA in English and a BFA in Fine Arts. She finished as a finalist in the Kennedy Center’s VSA National Emerging Young Artist program for 2017; where she earned an award of Excellence. She has shown prints internationally in a print exchange in Australia and exhibitions in Dubai, India and the Glasgow School of Art. She has also shown paintings internationally in Gallery 24N, PhilaMOCA’s juried exhibitions in Philadelphia, Pa. and Greenpoint Gallery in Brooklyn. She currently has a group show up in Nyack, NY at Perry Lawson Fine Art. Taylor has joined Art Spiel as a contributing writer.