Carbon, Titan, Titanium (Rhythmic #1)

Robert Standish

60 x 84″

Acrylic on natural canvas

Robert Standish’s “Carbon, Titan, Titanium (Rhythmic #1)” presents an interplay between elemental matter and fluid abstraction, where layers of black, white, and neutral hues fracture and reconstitute themselves across the canvas. The title itself—evoking strength, transformation, and industrial resilience—suggests a dialogue between the organic and the engineered, the geological and the man-made.

The composition undulates with geological energy, resembling the shifting striations of eroded rock formations, planetary surfaces, or the sedimentary buildup of deep time. Standish’s manipulation of paint creates a surface that feels both malleable and resistant, as if the work is in the midst of being reshaped by unseen forces. Textural disruptions—thick impasto ridges juxtaposed with sleek, fluid marbling—mimic the natural processes of compression, fracture, and liquefaction.

This piece is not merely a visual exercise in abstraction but a meditation on materiality itself. By referencing carbon, titanium, and titan, Standish situates the work within a framework of durability and transmutation, challenging the viewer to consider how forces of time, pressure, and movement continually reshape the physical and conceptual world.