While William Robinson is most readily identifiable by his monumental paintings, his prints are scarcely understood or fully acknowledged for their aesthetic value and contribution to the artist’s remarkable creative vision. This exhibition provides rare insight into Robinson’s mastery as a colourist and mark-maker by showcasing four decades of printmaking alongside significant paintings.
From his early etchings, which offer playful character studies of farmyard animals, to virtuosic lithographs with multiperspective, multi-coloured depictions of the Australian landscape, Robinson’s prints span a diverse range of styles and subject matter. While many of his prints reference and even share titles with earlier paintings, the artist specifies that they are not meant as direct copies: “I am not turning a painting into a lithograph, perhaps turning some of the ideas in a painting into a lithograph . . . it is a reinterpretation of it, not the same composition.” This process reflects the greater aspirations of Robinson’s artistic practice — to create a “parallel vision”that transcends mere depiction.
William Robinson, Tallanbanna II, 2000, colour lithograph. QUT Art Collection, Gift of the Artist under the Cultural Gifts Program, 2002. Courtesy the artist and William Robinson Gallery, Queensland
William Robinson Gallery
5 September 2023 to 15 September 2024
Queensland
