Coastal Signs is pleased to present Driftwood, a solo exhibition of new work by Peter Robinson. Driftwood comprises new large-scale sculpture made from a single material; a wood-veneer metal called Metwood or Knot-wood. 
 
The impossibly smooth surface is gripped in a vice and forced to fold in on itself; one sculpture features crude spirals or koru, while another is just turned up at each end; like an enormous line drawing of a boat.
 
As with all of Robinson’s work, Driftwood is full of dichotomies and contradictions. The sculptures are huge, but somehow lacking in dimension. Obviously hollow and therefore lightweight, they teeter both physically and metaphorically. The forms seem ancient, like giant artifacts or hieroglyphs, and impossibly modern, almost dystopic. Any totemic or ceremonial associations should be undermined by the cheap synthetic wrongness of the material, and yet, they are still somehow... iconic. 

Peter Robinson (b. 1966, Kāi Tahu) has exhibited extensively locally and internationally. Recent exhibitions include: Kā Kaihōpara, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Ōtepoti Dunedin (2023); Rag Trade, 23 Gordon Rd, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2020); Notations, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne (2020), and Fieldwork, CoCA, Ōtautahi Christchurch (2018).

Peter has participated in the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2018), the Jakarta Biennial (2015), the 5th Auckland Triennial (2013), 13th Istanbul Biennale (2013), 11th and 18th Biennale of Sydney (1998/2012), and he was New Zealand’s representative at the 49th Venice Biennale (2001). Peter is Associate Professor Fine Arts and Associate Dean Māori at Te Waka Tūhura Elam School of Fine Arts and Design, University of Auckland.