David Robilliard

David Robilliard (1952-1988), born in Guernsey (Channel Islands), was a self-taught poet and artist. Robilliard’s work, both his poems and his drawings, exist as frank, abbreviated statements, deploying epigrammatic language, a simple use of line and a palette of primary colours.

In 1975 Robilliard moved to London where he met artist Andrew Heard, who became his partner, and the artists Gilbert & George, for whom he modelled. Gilbert & George championed Robilliard’s poetry and encouraged him to add imagery to his words. Gilbert & George also helped publish Robilliard’s first book of poetry which was launched amidst a backdrop of his drawings. Other readings of Robilliard’s poems were held in bars and restaurants across London’s Soho and the first dedicated exhibition of his drawings was held at the Stephen Bartley Gallery in 1983.

Robilliard died from an AIDS-related illness in 1988. He has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Royal Festival Hall, London (1992), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1993), and ICA, London (2014). His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.