Robbie Ierubino wanted to be an actor before he drew a portrait of David Grohl at age 15. Since then he has never looked back and art became a huge part of his life.
He showed one of his high school teachers his digital artwork and they encouraged him to continue his work at university. He attended college at Staffordshire University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in graphic design. Following his Bachelor of Arts, he was then encouraged to continue his studies in creative technologies, which he received a Master of Arts in.
Emigrating from Philadelphia, Ierubino moved to Vienna when he was 14 years old and since has had many different influences from the places he has traveled. He has traveled to Italy, France and Germany amongst others. Through travel, he was observed artistic styles including street art and cubism, inspiring him to create his own: “Shapism.”
“I can shape my own visions and show it through visual communication. It's kind of like a visual riddle that you're trying to find out.”
Ierubino guesses that if he never moved to Europe, he would have been part of corporate America working as an accountant. He was always very good at math, but after moving to Europe, was highly influenced by the art around him.
When beginning an art project, Ierubino waits for the creativity to come to him and compares it to a form of therapy.
“I’m waiting for that vision to come,”
Ierubino is particularly fascinated with polygonal shapes and the color blue. However, he appreciates the “togetherness” of making his pieces multicolored. His favorite piece of artwork, if he had to choose one, is “True Colors.” This artwork is a panoramic abstract, left to right, beginning with the colors black and white, moving into grayscale, and ending with color.
“It is like you are basically in the black at first and you want to get to the wide open world of color” Ierubino said.
His inspiration for “True Colors” stemmed from Pablo Picasso.
Ierubino has many other passions including design and music, with music playing a large role in his life. His favorite genre of music is Electronica and his goal is to perform mixes on tour.
When diagnosed with autism, Ieurubino remembers that there were “negative things” surrounding him due to his diagnosis. However, his diagnosis inspired him to want to create his art and show it publicly. Ierubino says that he did not know what autism was until tenth grade, but ended up learning about it and creating a personal project on his experience with autism, a documentary called “Stuck in the Middle.”
Ierubino said that he is not much of a conversationalist, but is very talented in visual communication.
His current plan is to begin his own business.
“I'm planning a business for those who are neurodiverse, even disabled, to join a part of the creative communities such as film, art, design, music, gaming, architecture and everything else. It's called Studio Eye. And it's basically an inclusive and open creative studio that will work upon various industries,” Ierubino says.
Ierubino’s goal is to have a gallery of his art to be able to share with the world. He would also like to travel the world and find inspiration in other countries such as Argentina and Japan.
“For my deeper meaning to my art. It's kind of like a story of my life, my journey, my explorations, my inspirations. And just, well, whatever you wanted to create something, and you still want to make, make a wish come true. There's still time, we must keep going for it.”