Robin Speth’s Synapses of a Storm Cell is a painted snapshot of a dynamic moment.

“I try to capture the excitement and movement of an event like that,” said Speth about his 2023 airbrush painting. “It seems to be between a snapshot and a time-lapse. I want to showcase the movement because you get to see something that isn’t always seen.”

Synapses of a Storm Cell also showcases Speth’s interest in storm chasing.

“I found a filmmaker on YouTube named Mike Olbinski, and he does this amazing time-lapse footage of storms,” he said. “It was seeing those and getting a sense of how they move. I wanted to try to make a larger piece. I will also say that with the clouds, they came out messing around in my studio. I figured out how to do them over the course of a day.”

Speth’s painting is one of 30 pieces featured in his latest exhibit, Decoherence, at the University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens.

Inspired by a concept from quantum mechanics, Decoherence examines how everything in the natural world exists in a state of flux and is shaped by its environment.

“I have a very superficial understanding of this concept,” said Speth, who grew up in Ann Arbor but now lives in Detroit. “I love the idea of thinking of people as particles being introduced to an environment, how that affects our reality, and how much power the environment that we live in has over us.”

I recently spoke to Speth about the exhibit, which runs through April 26.

Q: Your bio mentions you love to explore. How does that inspire you as an artist?
A: With my parents, we would go on these work vacations. They’re archeologists, so they would go out on these digs, and they would bring us out for a couple of weeks at a time wherever they were going. They gave us a lot of freedom to walk around while they were doing their [work].

Also at home, they would be working, and they would say, “Go wander.” It felt really great, and when you’re a kid, that’s the only thing that’s really yours. It’s like these little journeys that you go on. When you’re finding it for the first time, it really feels like that’s your little world.

Q: How did you develop an affinity for drawing and airbrushing?
A: I’ve always had an affinity for drawing. I found the exploration part of that during my sophomore year at art school. Later on, I thought, “This is a really interesting way to explore my mind. This page or canvas is a really cool way to just see what happens and what comes out.” It definitely took some time for that exploration to kick in.

There’s an artist, H.R. Giger, who did the concept art for the Alien movies. He worked with an airbrush, and I love his work. I thought, “I want to try this and see where it goes,” so I picked it up in 2019. I was messing around with it part-time while I was still in school. When COVID hit, I said, “OK, I’m gonna sit down and do this every day.” It’s definitely a more recent addition, and I said, “I want to work bigger and more colorful,” which is hard to do with drawing. With an airbrush, you can work at those larger sizes much more easily.

The graffiti scene out here in Detroit is incredible. We have some amazing artists, and I learned a lot from them. They use their whole body to make these pieces, and they do it fast and efficiently. I’m learning some of that technique from them, watching them paint.

Q: What types of pieces are included in your exhibit?
A: It’s just airbrushings and drawings. The larger airbrush paintings are very impactful; there’s a lot of color and emotion in them. And you have the drawings, which are smaller and more detailed. You have to get up closer, and they often tell a bit more of a specific story of my life, too. The sketchbooks act as a bit of a journal, and you’re seeing pieces from different events, places, and things.

Q: How did you learn about the concept of decoherence?
A: After watching Oppenheimer, I went down a YouTube rabbit hole about [his] research and learned more about the science behind the whole process as he developed [nuclear] weapons. Through that, I stumbled into decoherence, and I thought, “That’s fascinating, how that transition happens.”

Q: You create your pieces quickly. How does that turnaround time challenge you as an artist?
A: If I spend more than two full days on a piece, it’s rare, [but] it does happen. The murals are the exception. There’s a magic that happens in those early stages when the piece first comes to life. The airbrush really allows you to discover, find, and bring the magic out very quickly, so you can get it in one spurt of energy instead of having to come back week after week and labor over it. It’s the same for drawings, too. I’m usually going somewhere with my sketchbook, to the Botanical Gardens or wherever, so they come out over the course of me sitting there.

Q: Marooned in the Dunes comes from spending time at the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area near Ludington and Manistee. How did a tree stump in the dunes catch your eye?
A: That was probably 2017 when we found that tree stump. It’s an incredible place where you have true freedom wandering those dunes and finding different little treasures like a tree stump. It should just be an inanimate object, but when you put it in that setting, floating on the sand, and hanging out with your friends, it’s incredible. 

Finding that stump, I saw my painting and drawing style in it, and it was reassuring to think, “This is something worthwhile, and it’s reflected here in nature.” With the stump, you can see this other forest behind it, and at one point, it was part of the forest. It has since sunk into this sand mountain. It was a full-grown pine tree at one point, and it’s this skeleton of that. It’s honoring the skeleton of that tree.

Q: You’ve been working on some new airbrush pieces, including Can’t You See Us Crying, Wurster Galaxy, and Storms Coming. How did those come together for you?
A: I wanted to get a bunch of new ones done before the show. There are some new techniques and new styles in there. Can’t You See Us Crying is inspired by the last couple of weeks and months, and a seeming lack of empathy and frustration about that.

Wurster Galaxy incorporates new techniques for capturing fireflies and the light they give off. It’s inspired by [Wurster Park], a park right behind my [childhood] house, and they have this huge Chinkapin Oak. It’s a massive tree, and the fireflies are going all the way up it. In the summer, I would go out there, sit for a little bit, and watch them light up the whole tree, which is a pretty surreal experience.

Storms Coming is inspired by frustration about the [recent] buildup of violence. The lightning bolt that’s coming out of it is about lightning rod events. I want people to see whatever they want to see in that [piece], but it’s definitely an expression of frustration and anticipation of bad weather coming.

Q: Tell me about some of the drawings in your exhibit.
A: I should start with the two that I did at the Botanical Gardens. One is of a Redbud tree [called Redbuds], which was drawn out on the trails by the creek behind the gardens. That’s a nice way to show how the gardens can be an inspiring place for artists.

Another one is Good Rocky’s Revival, which is inspired by The Beatles’ song “Rocky Raccoon.” I love that song, and it sets up a perfect story there. If you’re familiar with the song, and you see the drawing, it should click. Then, finally, I’ll shout out to my mom. There’s one of my mom, which is called Cardamama, and it’s when we were at the restaurant, Cardamom.

Q: What do you hope people take away from the exhibit?
A: In the winter, it’s a really beautiful space to go to, see some greenery, and see some good art. If you’re having a rough day, that can be a little place of solace and rejuvenation. I would also love for people to see a little bit of me in the drawings and the paintings. I hope they see a reflection of me, both my life and experiences, and what I’m thinking about. Even if they don’t know me, I hope they can connect with that.

Q: What plans do you have after the exhibit?
A: I’m painting a mural in Kerrytown this summer at the new Dunbar Tower, and that will start in May. I’ll be doing the Ann Arbor Art Fair this summer. If people want to see more of my work and see my process, I’ll be out in Ann Arbor this summer.

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.

"Decoherence" runs through April 26 at Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 North Dixboro Road, Ann Arbor. The exhibit is free and open to the public. You can view the exhibit Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 am to 4:30 pm, and Wednesdays from 10 am to 8 pm. Matthaei Botanical Gardens is closed on Mondays.