About
Tabor Robak
b. 1986, Portland, OR
Lives and works in Paris
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Open to collaborations with brands and artists.
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Biography
American contemporary artist based in Paris recognized for his contributions to new media. Starting as a Photoshop editor at age 13, Robak later earned a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. After relocating to New York, Robak was featured in group shows at institutions like MOMA PS1 and the Lyon Biennale before his first solo exhibition in 2013. His exhibitions have spanned 23 countries.
Robak's artworks, distinguished by multi-channel video installations and generative Artworks, are collected by globally recognized museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Serpentine Galleries, London; Yuz Foundation, Jakarta; and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin.
Recognized in Forbes' 30 Under 30, Robak's influence extends beyond art. He has collaborated with notable brands like Maison Margiela, Balenciaga, and Microsoft. His distinctive fusion of digital craftsmanship and varied cultural elements has extended into film, fashion, and design.
Robak has instructed at NYU where he co-taught a full-semester course on the use of video game engines in artwork, and delivered guest lectures at institutions like Yale and Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.
His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Artforum International, Art in America, Modern Painters, Sculpture Magazine, Interview Magazine, Nylon China, and Vogue Arabia.
News
- Aug 12, 2026 — Welcome to my new website!
- Jun 14, 2026 — Human Resources presented at Basel Social Club via DANAE.io
- Dec 03, 2026 — Human Resources sells out at verse.works - 10k PFP collection
- Oct 12, 2024 — Solo show: Causality Mosaic opens at Bremond Capela
- Sep 04, 2023 — Skypad Acquired by Portland Art Museum
- Jul 29, 2023 — Two new books
- Apr 21, 2023 — Twisted Scribe at Art Brussels
- May 23, 2022 — Colorspace Drops on Art Blocks curated
- Jan 12, 2022 — Whitney Museum of American Art acquires Colorwheel
- May 15, 2021 — Buffalo Viral
Explosions
- Year
- 2024
- Medium
- Video installation
- Dimensions
- 125 × 60 × 47 cm
- Categories
- Video, Installation
- Exhibition History
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- 2024 — IMPACT , Super Dakota , Brussels
- Description
I made a piece in 2011 called explosions and lost the original files.
found a horribly compressed copy on an old private YouTube account.
manually upscaled and re-imagined over 2000 frames of video to remaster the video.
at 30 images a second the video is filled with flashes of detail and subliminal imagery.
It seems impossible to get this detail to show up in a web streaming video.
Please view below.“Explosions (2024) takes us into the home environment. The film is a visual and auditory overload, a 90-minute video installation set against a bombastic soundtrack that captures the American fascination with violence and conflict, inspired by the desensitisation following 9/11 and its cultural by-products. Positioned against a bare, sealed mattress, it comments on the juxtaposition of violence and intimacy in American life, portraying a culture seemingly more at ease with aggression than affection.
Explosions is a reconstruction of a 2011 work, one of the artist’s first experiments with the software ‘After Effects’. Deciding to analysis each frame using an AI tool, the artist was able to generate new images, while also using the original video frames as a second input that would control the composition of the newly generated images. With 30 images to one second of video, individually worked by the artist, a subliminal effect emerges, with flashes of imagery transitioning from heavenly clouds to burning buildings to barbecue chicken, representing extensive research of uncensored AI imaging models.”
