David Robilliard Through the Eyes of Russell Tovey

Russell Tovey never met David Robilliard, but he has spent the past two years making sure the world knows his name. The queer British poet and artist left an indelible impact on East London’s thriving creative scene with his heartfelt canvases that mix hand-drawn sketches with poetic snippets about sex, loss, and human connection, but has remained shrouded in obscurity. “I remember being really taken aback by how openly queer [his work] was,” says Tovey, an actor, art enthusiast, and co-host of the Talk Art podcast. “I was like, I can’t believe this exists, this is out there.” Tovey’s favorite? The Yes No Quality of Dreams, a painting completed the year Robilliard died, of AIDS in 1988 at the age of 36, that pictures a linear drawing of a man’s face in profile, chin resting on his fist, the titular words joyfully spelled below.

Tovey’s quest to deepen his—and our—understanding of Robilliard’s life, work, and legacy is the subject of Life Is Excellent, a documentary commissioned by WePresent, the arts platform of WeTransfer. Named after one of the late artist’s jubilant paintings, the 49-minute film sees Tovey travel to Robilliard’s birthplace of Guernsey, Channel Islands, to delve deeper into his upbringing and retrace his steps before relocating to East London. There, Tovey connects with Robilliard’s friends, colleagues, and collaborators—many of whom have never spoken about him publicly—as he explores the haunts where Robilliard lived, created, danced, loved, and flourished as an artist. Interspersed throughout are readings of Robilliard’s poems by the likes of Susan Wokoma and Bimini Bon Boulash, bringing the artist’s charming and witty aphorisms to life.

As Tovey learns more about Robilliard, the totemic impact of his creative hero becomes palpable. He frequently carries a rare copy of Inevitable, a 1984 collection of Robilliard’s poems, and gets visibly emotional upon visiting Four Garden Lane, the location of Robilliard’s studio. The research also sparks personal revelations that highlight Tovey’s broader mission to raise awareness about the impact of the AIDS crisis—and all the queer artists whose lives were tragically cut short by the illness. As WePresent’s 2023 guest curator, Tovey screened live performances of Blue Now, a celebration of Derek Jarman’s poignant film Blue, which portrays the late artist’s struggle with HIV-induced blindness by having others read his diary against a background of Yves Klein blue. 

“There are artists that come along and feel like their hands reached out and take ours,” Tovey says. “You miss these people. That’s the mark of a genius. They have the ability to connect to someone who they’ve never met, who they’d never even imagined they would ever know.”

Life Is Excellent is available for streaming and will also be screening at the SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd Street, New York) on Wednesday, December 6.