William Robinson

In 2009, the William Robinson Gallery opened in Old Government House at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. It was the first time in Australia that an artist had been honoured in such a way.

William Robinson was born in 1936 in Queensland and came to national attention when he won the Archibald Prize for Portraiture in 1987 and again in 1995.  In 2001, the Queensland Art Gallery mounted a major exhibition which toured to the National Gallery of Australia. In 2007, William Robinson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his outstanding achievement and service to the arts.

When I visited old Government house recently the William Robinson Gallery was hosting an exhibition of his farmyard animals. Displayed in all the various rooms upstairs they were wonderful reminders of the artist's connection to life in the farmyard and of our own tenuous, at times, connection with them as more and more of the population become urbanised and exist often "off the ground". Having lived in a number of places where the cows were so important it almost felt right that I came across their importance once more here in Australia. I smiled my way through this one. 

 Cows in their expressive expansive form

 The artist among the corrugated iron sheds and the animals

 The wonderful and expressive goats heads - no two are alike !

The chaotic but fun farmyard