Born in India and raised in America, Robin Cracknell moved to London in 1987 after a season in Milan where he had been shooting fashion photography. Once in London, increasingly disillusioned and frustrated with the conventions of fashion work, it was his portfolio of personal work that led to a decade of commissions from publishers and art directors for posters, magazine covers and over 300 book jackets. His technique of combining cinematography with traditional still photography and various mixed media came about from spending many of those years killing time in the ICA projection booth, watching obscure movies and gathering up the random cuttings of discarded film which later became the new 'emulsion' for his work.
After unexpectedly becoming a single father in 1997, Robin refused commissions for eight years to concentrate solely on raising his son. In September 2006, a series of photographs documenting this periodwas selected for the top 10 of 12,000 artists on Saatchi Art for a show curated by readers of The Guardian as well as noted gallery owners, critics and artists. Robin's work was personally nominated by sculptor Marc Quinn. Shortly thereafter, these photographs and notebooks from that period became his first solo exhibition entitled 'The Camera Suture' at The Whitecross Gallery in London. Since then, his work has been widely published and exhibited including, notably, Eyemazing Magazine and The Michael Hoppen Gallery. A selection of his notebooks is featured in the acclaimed 2014 Thames and Hudson publication, ‘Photographers’ Sketchbooks’ with further work from his 'Childhood' series to appear in Thames and Hudson's 'Family Photography Now' due published in Spring 2016.
Robin Cracknell's work is in various private collections internationally as well as The National Portrait Gallery in London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Fundacion Privada Sorigue, a museum of contemporary art in Lleida, Spain.
Presse release, Sous les Etoiles Gallery - « Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is pleased to announce "The farther I remember," a group exhibition showcasing the work of acclaimed emerging and established photographers Carolle Bénitah, Eeva Hannula, Susanne Wellm, and Robin Cracknell. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2-6pm. A book signing of Carolle Bénitah’s debut photo book, "Photos Souvenirs," published earlier this year by Kehrer Verlag, will also be held on Sat. Dec. 10, 3:30pm.
"The farther I remember" highlights each photographer’s unique relationship to memory and time. In the collected works on view, the artists have mined their past, dreams, and subconsciouses to create images that are at once familiar and new using various techn...
Sous Les Etoiles Gallery is pleased to present “Childhood,” photographer Robin Cracknell’s premiere exhibition with the gallery. “Childhood,” named after the artist’s longterm series documenting the real and staged moments of his son’s early life, will be on view March 10 through April 30, with an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, March 10, 6–8pm.
© Robin Cracknell, Eleven tape, 2012
London-based photographer Robin Cracknell explores themes of love, loss and memory using a unique non-digital process combining traditional film photography and cinematography, and shooting with old, sometimes damaged cameras and salvaged 35mm cine film. In his series Childhood, single father Cracknell offers a stylized, personal vision of childhood through...