Robert Rapson b. Wellington, New Zealand, 1952-2020

Robert Rapson (1951-2020 b Wellington, New Zealand), was a self-taught artist who begun making ceramics in his 40s after working as a baker. Densely patterned ships are imprinted with his fingers leaving choppy, impasto imprints in the sculptures which become one and the same with swirling seas the ships cut across. Rapson’s fascination with passenger ships came from an early age as he watched the fanfare and bands that accompanied their arrival and departures from Wellington harbor and visited his father who worked on the wharf. As a teenager he sailed to Europe on the Italian liner “Angelina Lauro”. Storied vessels of cultural and historical significance and the romantic idea of the long voyage become charged monuments which, as Rapson explained bears “witness to history and change.”