Walter Robinson, the painter, writer and founding editor of Artnet Magazine, has died, Sébastien Bertrand gallery has announced.
Born in Delaware in 1950, Robinson moved to New York in 1968 to attend Columbia University before attending the Whitney Independent Study Programme in 1972 as an art critic. He started painting in the 1970s and was associated with the Pictures Generation, a group including Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman known for their critique of Western media culture. Robinson’s figurative works are often based on the appropriation of consumer images.
As a critic, he wrote for Art in America, was the copublisher of Art-Rite and became the founding editor of Artnet Magazine from 1996 to 2012. In 2014, he coined the term ‘zombie formalism’ to refer to a genre of abstract paintings particularly sought out by investment-oriented art collectors. Robinson’s books include Instant Art History: From Cave Art to Pop Art (1994) and Most Art Sucks: Five Years of Coagula (1998).
