There is something disarmingly beautiful and mysterious about Robb’s new work, Other Sides. The figures loom out of darkness like ghosts. The bodies, painted white, seem remote and untouchable, like ghostly apparitions floating in velvety emptiness; and yet, they have a stillness and solidity reminiscent of stone or marble sculpture.

Only when you move in front of these images, do you see them in all their elaborate beauty and mystery. Figures disappear and reform in a different guise. In one moment, the extended hand or foot seems to be tangible, within your grasp; in the next, it has been withdrawn. In one moment, a face is staring directly at you; in the next, it hides behind the body. In one moment, the figure appears to be a consequential, flesh-and-blood body; in the next, an evanescent and illusory form. The sheer variety of poses in Robb’s work is enthralling. There are poses that seem inexplicable – the impossible angle of a limb, the gravity-defying body. In one case, a lower leg appears to have been detached from the body and then hooked over an arm.

Then there are poses of simplicity and clarity. A model sits with her head on her knee – the graceful arch of her back in stark contrast with the diagonals of her bent leg. In an image of extraordinary harmony, a model has one forearm lying on the other, one leg lying on the other.

There are also poses of great complexity, especially when two figures are shown together. These figures seem to grow around each other almost organically, twisting together like vines. Clasping or caressing each other, they create circular and sinuous rhythms. As we move in front of the image, the figures appear to merge, as if they are searching for one perfect form.

The gaze of the models also seems important. In some of the most striking images, the model looks directly at us. We see personality, human traits – confidence, serenity, self-containment – in the disarmingly frank gaze. The models seem to challenge us – are we as assured as they are?

In some images, however, we cannot even see the eyes. Denied direct contact with the subject, we begin to see poetry, not personality. A back resembles the form of a sea shell, skin resembles the surface of a sea-smoothed stone.

In many images, the eyes are visible but downcast or turned away. These are some of the most intriguing images. The figures seem truly otherworldly, absorbed by something we are ignorant of. They deflect our gaze away, into the mysterious darkness that surrounds them.

Robb’s use of colour enhances this sense of otherworld mystery. We are arrested by the startling red of the lips and the wonderfully rich oranges, browns and yellows in the hair. And yet in the predominantly black-and-white world that these figures exist, this colour seems vestigial – almost as if it were evidence of a previous existence.

Indeed, the figures seem to be in a liminal state – between this world and the next. Before our eyes, they appear to be turning into wraiths – gradually drained of colour, gradually released from the forces of gravity. And we are at a gateway, a threshold – witnessing this magical metamorphosis.

Other Sides is a new series of three-dimensional lenticular photographs by artist Jeffrey Robb and follows his critically acclaimed Naked Singularity series from 2009.

-- 'Other Sides', An essay by Matthew Rake MA