Walter Robinson, Born 1950, USA. Candles, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 72” x 60”

In 2006, artist-slash-art critic Walter Robinson wrote “Rocky Mountain High,” an extensive piece for Artnet about the city of Denver’s growing contemporary art scene. Flying nearly cross-country from New York to what was still known as a “cow town,” Robinson showed a lot of love and generosity toward the community’s flourishing museums, art districts, and experimental energy. In his notes about Dikeou Collection, he stated that the artwork is “pleasantly underground,” and nearly a decade later Walter’s paintings of spa candles has joined the ranks of our pleasantly underground crew forever. 

Walter Robinson, Born 1950, USA. Spa Candles, 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 36” x 36”

Walter’s candle paintings in Dikeou Collection radiate tranquility, but their true meaning is more sensual and worldly. In a 2022 zingchat interview he revealed, “All my work is about desire. My candles are carnal, not spiritual. They’re stock images that Asian massage parlors use to set the tone in their ads. They’re about the senses, about touch.” Other subjects commonly portrayed in his work - money, women, fast food, cigarettes, alcohol - offer more apparent depictions of the kind of carnal desire he describes, while the candles are desire’s smokescreen. The viewer wants to assume the candles are aspirational; that they are devotional, spiritual, and evoke purity and wellness. But they’re secretly the least innocent players at the party. The candles provide the atmosphere while indulging in a late-night binge, or a heady studio session. Because, after all, “Painting in the dark gives the best art effects.” (Walter Robinson, 1950-2025).

- Hayley Richardson