Robin Clements
Fast Lines by Stephen Gregory

In the twelfth instalment of our Twenty for Twenty series, we ask Creative Courtyard Supervisor and Associate Artist Robin Clements to select an artwork from the Milton Keynes University Hospital Art Collection.

Which work in The Collection have you chosen to talk about?

The acrylic on Canvas painting, Fast lines (1982) by Stephen Gregory.

When and how did you first see it?

On a particularly rainy day, the courtyard volunteers and I decided to take a break from the gardens and have a look at the art on display in the hospital. We were picking out which artworks we liked and talking about why. Whilst taking a flight of stairs this painting really caught my eye.


What first interested or attracted you to this artwork?

I was immediately drawn to this painting as it depicts a view I have seen many times. The platform at MK station. When I'm on the platform it generally means I am going to London to see my good friends in Brixton and Clapham. The fact that it was painted in 1982 and yet still feels fresh and like I'm standing there now waiting for my train to pull in and take me to London is amazing.


Do you remember how seeing this work made you feel?

I always have a sense of excitement at the train station, and I felt the same excitement when looking at the painting. The painting has real kinetic energy to it. It feels as though any second a crack will come over the tannoy to tell me to ‘STAND BACK THE NEXT TRAIN THROUGH THE STATION DOES NOT STOP HERE’ followed by a furious Pendolino train hurtling on its way.


In general, what kind of impact do you think seeing art at MKUH has on your experience of being on the hospital site?

I am always very happy working at the hospital surrounded by such brilliant art. I can see multiple Boyd and Evans artworks whilst walking between our gardens, or Tomas Georgeson’s beautiful painting, ‘The Passage’ when getting the tools out of our shed. I have spoken to patients who have mentioned unprompted how much they like the art around the hospital and how they always see something new that they had not noticed before.


Robin (centre) with two of our courtyard volunteers.

Contributors: Robin Clements
Robin Clements is Creative Courtyard Supervisor, and an Associate Artist at Arts for Health MK. Currently leading on our Creative Courtyard program caring for six gardens at Milton Keynes University Hospital, which are open to patients visitors and staff during daylight hours. Robin is also one of our lead artists at our Saturday Art Club in Conniburrow.

The Milton Keynes University Hospital includes two artworks by Stephen Gregory, you can read more about them here.