Xenophilia
Robin Sathoff
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Nonetheless Press
ISBN: 1932053042

100 drawings from a backpacking tour of England, India, Kashmir & Nepal.

Xenophilia -- the love of things foreign or different, was created with Papermate ballpoint pens in one sketch book as Robin Sathoff, 28 years old, set off on the trek of his life.

Presented with no explanation other than where he was when he drew on the page, these intense & complex drawings are unique & powerful collages of visions, philosophy & fantasy.

For a year, Robin Sathoff took care of his mother until she had recovered from the auto accident which had killed his father. As a thank-you, she bought him a plane ticket to his choice of destination -- the Midlands of England.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these 100 drawings each contain a galaxy of stories. As they progress from “Breaking Out” in Aldridge, UK to the feeling of “Fear” to “The Great Compression; Holed up in a guesthouse in Kathmandu” & “Fated” to “Roaming the Himalayas.” One page is “I traced the sunlight that fell upon the page.” (something I've often done, shadows too!) Then “Escape” to “Bow to the Lions” to “Landscape inside out.”

The pages are in a recipe book binding which allows you to set it up & study each vision, & study you must, for they are filled with flowing lines, startling reflections, layers upon layers, some crammed with details, other drawn with broad strokes, always arabesque, decorative & absorbing, all in black & white.

As art student Robin meanders on his quest & rest, we see how his imagery transforms as he ponders philosophies & travels through exotic lands.

If you have a budding artist in your family, if you have ever wondered if those doodles of yours have any value, if you want to feast your eyes on a smorgasbord of enthralling sights & insights, then Xenophilia will fascinate.

Ballpoint pens were taboo when I was a student, & when I finally got one in my hands, I was amazed at its fluidness. I quickly discovered how good they were for drawing & my journals are filled with pages of sketches & involved, sprawling pictures. Robin Sathoff takes the art of the ballpoint pen to its zenith!

Unique & highly recommended!

Do catch Rebecca's Interview with Robin Sathoff, author/artist of Xenophilia
(09/14/03)

Rebecca