Robyn has always had the desire to re-create newness from worn, tired, or familiar objects or symbols. She attributes this to a respect for her surroundings and an ever-present and long-held belief that nothing should go to waste or be discarded simply because it has exhausted its initial purpose for being. Everything can and should be re-purposed and in doing so, something wonderfully unique, beautiful or challenging often results.
Robyn’s initial training in design, at both the Brisbane Institute of Art and the Latrobe College of Art in Melbourne, both in Australia, has cemented this view of the world as she observes, analyses and mentally re-constructs the images of the world around her.
Consequently, Robyn has successfully pursued the goal of re-purposing materials and images to create unique, and sometimes confronting, works that reveal totally new concepts about an object, an image or even a social belief. Where other people see commercial advertisements promoting the latest products, photos of picturesque landscapes, family portraits, useless ephemera items, even commercial documentation long past its use-by date or just simple, everyday trivial items, Robyn will see the makings of an art piece, capable of completely re-imaging the viewer’s understanding of the objects portrayed and used in the work.
Coupled with her understanding and respect for colour and its impact on the viewer’s reaction to a work, Robyn is able, through the re-imaging of these items, to transport the viewer to other worlds, other societal forms, and even totally new and foreign forms of life, relationships or beliefs. That the viewer may find the result uncomfortable or challenging is a bonus as such challenges are the building blocks for change in our, sometimes, chaotic world.
While what society calls art takes an almost infinite variety of forms, using an equally almost infinite supply of materials, Robyn has narrowed her form and techniques to paper, glue, paint and imagination, fed by the almost inexhaustible supply of material from every walk of life, promoting endless dreams, goals, desires, emotions, and mania. That these materials may have initially promoted ideas and concepts totally at odds with Robyn’s finished work only makes the transformation more exciting and demanding of the viewer’s attention and reactions. As a result, nothing is sacred in Robyn’s world and every image, object and media has multiple uses which can, even on completion, be re-imaged and used endlessly almost infinitely.
Robyn’s goal with her work is to promote the simple idea of uniqueness and wonder in the minds of the viewers of her work. The response of “Who would have thought of doing that…..?” as a reaction to one of her works is the supreme compliment. That it may challenge and cause the viewer to question and review a concept, a standard, a prevailing notion or belief is a bonus. Robyn takes the greatest pleasure in knowing her work has been enjoyed and remembered.
Robyn has enjoyed considerable success in numerous solo and group exhibitions in her home town Melbourne and this has been a driving force in her desire to relocate and test her skills and ideas on a wider audience in the UK and Europe. She is happy to reflect on this success knowing a variety of her works are being enjoyed in private collections in places as widely scattered as Norway, France, UK, USA, New Zealand, Germany and of course her native Australia.
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