BRIAN ROBINSON PACIFIC CROSSCURRENTS
CAIRNS REGIONAL GALLERY
IMAGE
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
BRIAN ROBINSON PACIFIC CROSSCURRENTS
Exhibition dates
9 July - 7 September 2016
Curated by Sally Butler
IMAGE
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
IMAGE
LandSeaSky-chartingourplaceintheuniverse 2016 linocut ed. 1/10
99.2 x 193.7 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth 5
IMAGE
Usal-thesevensistersthatplayamongstthestars 2016
linocut mounted on canvas, stick chart sculpture and plastic objects ed. 1/10
100 X 230 X 10 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE
Shell money image in exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
FOREWORD
Art from the Torres Strait Islands and the Pacifc have featured in exhibitions at Cairns Regional Gallery for many years. Most recent featured artists include Alick Tipoti, Ken Thaiday Snr, Greg Semu, Toby Cedar and Grace Lillian Lee. The Gallery also showcased an outsider’s view of the Pacifc in the 2016 exhibitions, James Morrison – Re-Imagining Papua New Guinea, and Painter in Paradise–WilliamDobellinNewGuinea.
Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents brings an exciting new element to this program where a Torres Strait Island artist refects on his own relationship with Pacifc art. The exhibition showcases both new and existing works by Robinson to refect his interest in combining different cultural perspectives in one frame of reference. These crosscurrents offer a refreshing new mapping of what unites people in the region, and what makes them distinct.
Robinson’s art is shown alongside Pacifc artworks drawn from public and private cultural heritage collections. Exhibiting the objects that inspire an artist helps explore the process of artists responding to museum collections. Artists around the world have been accessing museum collections over recent decades with the aim of regenerating cultural links that have lapsed or been severed through colonisation. Museums and curators of these collections in turn become collaborators with the artists in revivifying the cultural life and potency of rarely seen objects. This exhibition includes Pacifc art from the Solomon Islands, Borneo, Fiji, Timor, and Papua New Guinea, along with historical items from the Torres Strait Islands.
Lenders offered advice about their collections and provided opportunities to let new audiences see the signifcance of Pacifc art of the past in a modern context. The exhibition would not be possible without the generous support of the Australian Museum, in particular Steven Alderton, Director, Programs, Exhibitions and Cultural Collections, and Dr Stan Florerk, Database Manager | Cultural Collections & Community Engagement who provided guidance on the Museum’s extensive Indigenous Pacifc and Torres Strait Island Collections. We are also indebted to private collectors, George Craig and his Marineland Melanesia museum on Green Island, and to Chris Boylan, Ed Boylan, and Helen Dennett. We would also like to acknowledge the support of Brian’s Sydney agent, Michael Reid, who provided valuable advice on this network of private collectors.
Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents is presented as one of a number of exhibitions initiated by the Cairns Regional Gallery as part of its 2016 Cairns Indigenous Art Fair program of exhibitions. The Gallery also acknowledges the generous support of the John Villiers Trust that has contributed fnancial support to the realisation of this ambitious project.
Brian Robinson has a long history with the Cairns Regional Gallery, most notably in his former roles as Senior Curator and Deputy Director. His art practice has been a full time occupation since 2010.
Finally, I would like to thank Sally Butler for her signifcant contribution to this project, both as a guest curator and contributor to the supporting publication. Sally has worked closely with both the artist and Gallery Curator, Ashleigh Campbell, to present an exciting exhibition that is conceived as a large-scale installation of new and existing works that respond to and are informed by ethnographic works from public and private collections.
Andrea May Churcher Director Cairns Regional Gallery
In March this year, Indigenous art from the Torres Strait Islands featured in a major art exhibition at one of the world’s leading marine science museums, the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The Museum regularly presents art exhibitions aimed at stimulating awareness about marine ecology and the global problem of a sustainable marine environment. Torres Strait Island art was an obvious choice for inclusion because the region is primarily a marine environment and a complex oceanic crossroad, intersecting Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia. Traditional legends and archaeological evidence reveal that voyagers from around the world travelled these waters over many thousands of years. Islands of the Torres Strait witnessed millennia of human traffc between Papua New Guinea and the Australian landmass. Macassans and Muslim traders from Indonesia and beyond arrived from the west, and from the east the rich voyaging traditions of the southwest Pacifc. From 1512, vessels passed through Torres Strait waters carrying cargoes of sandalwood, pearl goods, bêche de mer (sea slugs), and staple supplies between Europe and Asia. Torres Strait Islanders themselves were master mariners.
INTRODUCTION
Sally Butler
Associate Professor in Art History
School of Communications & Arts
The University of Queensland
IMAGE ABOVE
Youwilltravelinalandofmarvels 2015
linocut ed. 2/15
50 x 71.6 cm
the
IMAGE RIGHT
Ilanregatta 2011
linocut Artist Proof 3/3
24.3 x 78.7 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Courtesy of
Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents is an innovative art installation that presents one artist’s attempt to trace intersections between these ancient traditions and modern histories. Sea voyaging is historically a key vehicle for the exchange of knowledge, cultural practices and survival techniques, and it thematically fows through this exhibition, connecting people across time and place. The exhibition is unusual and experimental in terms of how it crosses national and ethnic boundaries. Robinson’s art picks up on the deep history of Austronesian Indigenous homelands that covered almost half of the world. Voyagers remembered in traditional cultural stories from this region travelled the seas between Madagascar and Hawaii, Taiwan and the Easter Islands. Cultural practices of today retain the imprint of this Pacifc network that linked Indigenous populations in diverse ways. Local cultures developed the stamp of unique identity, but crosscurrents continued to flter through the region, and still do so today.
Sea voyaging is a theme that the artist uses to relate historic Pacifc interchange with the conditions of today’s global society. Robinson’s approach to the exhibition presents a Torres Strait Island perspective of the circulation of ideas and processes of exchange: between different cultures, and across time. Comic book heroes, Greek temples, and cheeky cupid fgures jostle for attention within the rhythms of Pacifc cosmology. Patterns and designs that register shared Pacifc histories in trading goods, sea-faring, agriculture, and mortuary rituals emerge in his art as an undercurrent of global contemporary life.
The premise for Pacifc Crosscurrents grew from Robinson’s ongoing artistic interest in traditional Indigenous navigation, and how and what it moved across the Pacifc. During visits to museum collections he researched items conveying symbolism related to shared cultural knowledge and beliefs about such matters as gardening, weaving, and celestial navigation. Shared visual cues included recurring patterns associated with tattoo designs, and the motif of an abstracted elongated face often used in Torres Strait Island masks. His earlier art involved these elements, but museum collections provided a method of broadening the scope of these signposts and cues across the Pacifc.
IMAGE LEFT
2014
IMAGE ABOVE
CastNet,WaibenWharf 2011
Artist Proof 1/1
AchaliceoffruitrosefromthewavesbeckoningthemtoKaikai
linocut Artist Proof 1/1
46.6 x 80.3 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
linocut
59.5 x 45.0 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth 13
BIOGRAPHICAL CROSSCURRENTS
Brian Robinson’s background, biographically and professionally, is a crosscurrent in itself, and helps in understanding his approach to this exhibition. Born in 1973 on Waiben (also known as Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait Islands, Robinson’s heritage is complex, involving Torres Strait Island’s KalaLagawYa kinship, the Wuthathi of the Shelburne Bay on the Australian mainland region of Cape York Peninsula, and a Malay lineage from his paternal great grandfather. As a child on Waiben he learnt Zenadh Kes local traditions alongside an education in the Catholic religion and the Islamic faith; the latter from his great grandfather whose original home was Sarawak in Borneo.
Through his art, Robinson explores his interconnected bloodlines and heritage as the formation of his own global cultural imagination. Epic adventures and legends, where heroes triumph over evil, hold a special fascination for boys in their formative years. Robinson’s art recalls these infuences on his youth in a uniquely cross-cultural manner. Alineageofforefathers [2015] is a perfect example, paying homage to powerful ancestors from the Drummond, Villafor, Pablo, Malay, Assacruz, Arboleda, Robinson and Salmond families connected to the artist1. This global perspective encourages us to consider what is shared across cultures, along with how they differ. The image pivots on Robinson’s Athe (grandfather), Ali Drummond, and his love of the legendary comic book hero, The Phantom – the Ghost Who Walks . The fctional crime fghter operated from the imaginary African country of Bangalla and had qualities inspired by spiritual and natural phenomena, similar to Torres Strait Island legends. Robinson says of the
IMAGE ABOVE
Alineageofforefathers 2015
linocut ed. 2/15
49.0 x 79.3 cm
Kuika-Garka 2012
linocut Artist Proof 2/2
x 99.5 cm
and
15
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
24.5
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney
Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Phantom in his art, “the character was created by Lee Falk’s lifelong fascination with global myths and legends, such as those of King Arthur, as well as modern fctional characters such as Zorro, and Tarzan.” A long line of comic-book superheroes wearing skin-tight costumes were modelled on The Phantom, but Robinson is interested in the fact that the Phantom “does not have any superpowers but relies mainly on his strength, intelligence and fearsome reputation of being an immortal ghost to defeat his foes.” To a youthful Robinson growing up on Waiben, the qualities of the Phantom would register links with the powerful spiritual forces of the Kala Lagaw Ya’s ancestral Zugubal spiritual warriors.
Robinson’s 2015 artwork, Warriors, sorcerers + spirits, is another example of a global cultural imagination inspired by warrior leaders. Here Robinson spins a fuid cosmological energy around such dramatically different motifs as the Torres Strait Island dariceremonial headdress, Darth Vader and Batman headgear, and a crucifx signifying, in this context, the Christian crusades. This mix is not fippant or superfcial because it aims to capture the psychological terrain of cultural exchange that often operates around us, almost invisibly. It is a Pacifc perspective on what is at stake in being a global citizen. We all have primary ‘triggers’ that ground our sense of belonging to particular people and places, but we also participate in familiar realms of exchange where our shared ‘global’ self also becomes part of our heritage.
Robinson’s cultural background is underpinned by crosscurrents, but so too is his professional background. He is perhaps best described as a hybrid artist-curator whose creative strategies derive from a curatorial eye brought to artmaking. Although he was an artist before and during his curatorial career, curatorial experiences appear to have helped shape an artistic expression that positions the keepsakes of time and place into new contexts. Almost all of Robinson’s art is arguably a form of tableau that exhibits a wideangle view of life. The idea of approaching this exhibition as one synthesised installation, rather than simply a display of different artworks, is in part inspired by his former roles as Senior Curator and Deputy Director at the Cairns Regional Gallery, and a career as a curator spanning ffteen years. During this curatorial career Robinson gained a sound understanding of public art museums and collections, particularly through internships at the National Museum of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia, and more locally at the Gab Titui Cultural Centre on Waiben.
Warriors,sorcerers+spirits 2015 linocut ed. 3/15
60 x 114 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Knowledge about the contents, cataloguing, and storage of these Collections remained a fascination for the artist since resuming full-time art practice in 2010. Curators deal with collections of objects and ideas, and encourage artworks to tell their stories in different contexts. This is a useful way of thinking about Robinson’s art – he curates different elements into an artwork. Each element retains its original story but the signifcance of the story changes within different contexts.
Curators are also keen researchers who read widely about art and its histories and devise creative ways of encouraging the art to reconfgure its histories. The tableau-like artwork Navigating narrative – Nemo’s encounter in the Torres Strait [2011] refects the curator-researcher at work in the form of art history books that foat among the waters of the Torres Strait. Like curators, Robinson’s artworks navigate histories and traditions looking for crosscurrents, and in this case, their vehicle of navigation is Jules Verne’s fctional character of Captain Nemo.
Crosscurrents in Robinson’s art are about links and connections, but also gaps, and what gets ignored and passed over. The most prominent text included in Navigating narrativeis the book title, PrimitiveArt , that sits alongside another titled OceanicArt . Until very recently the western classical tradition virtually ignored these categories of art. ‘Great art’ brought to mind the heroes of a western tradition - Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Monet and Picasso - but who could name the greats of non-western art? Oceanic art was categorically separate to the western tradition – its so-called primitive origins disallowed any crosscurrents with the artistic ‘advance’ of western civilisation. Navigating narrative curates this history differently. The foundations of western civilisation, signifed by the skewed Greek columns on the Torres Strait seabed, are broken fragments of a past (or fctional Atlantis) that contrast with the continuous fux of a Torres Strait Island cosmos. The columns are part of that cosmos, but their rigid form collapses under the weight of something far more inclusive and fuid.
HandlineNgurupaiWharf 2011
IMAGE
linocut Artist Proof
54.3 x 48.2 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE
NavigatingNarrative-Nemo’sencounterintheTorresStrait 2011
linocut Artist Proof
55.3 x 109.3 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth 21
RESPONDING TO COLLECTIONS
Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents includes Robinson’s own art alongside Torres Strait Island and Pacifc items from public and private collections. They include the Indigenous Pacifc Collections and Torres Strait Island Collections of the Australian Museum in Sydney, private collections of Chris Boylan, Ed Boylan, George Craig, Helen Dennett, and the artist’s own collection. Exhibiting cultural heritage collection material alongside Robinson’s art is an attempt to replicate the artist’s practice of responding to museum collections; a practice in common with his contemporary peers from the Torres Strait such as Alick Tipoti, Dennis Nona, and Janet Fieldhouse. Cultural heritage collections in public museums around the world are used increasingly by artists to reconnect with knowledge and traditions impacted by colonisation. Artists are breathing new life into images, patterns and shapes of the past, enriching cultural expression of the present.
This exhibition also profles the idea that museum collections are crosscurrents in themselves. Carved and woven items from areas such as the Solomon Islands, Borneo, and Papua New Guinea feature in the exhibition alongside material from the Torres Strait Islands. Robinson consulted with curators of the Australian Museum’s collection of historic Torres Strait Island and Pacifc material, and also accessed rarely exhibited Pacifc artworks from several signifcant private collections. However the journey through the collections was mainly personal as the artist explored his own intuition about cultural exchange based on his life and experiences. Links in the exhibition are thus potentially biographical more so than academically ethnographic.
IMAGE
ZenadhKesrelic1 2012
etching Trial Proof
37.2 x 23.2 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE TOP
Wovenware–Boi 2010
etching Artist Proof 1/3
42.0 x 97.3 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE ABOVE
Wovenware–Balboi 2010
etching Artist Proof 1/3
48.7 x 97.3 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth 23
The idea of a personal response linking all of the material inspired Robinson to approach the entire exhibition as a single installation. Patterns painted on the wall help cohere this effect, bringing some of Robinson’s earlier work together with new pieces made specifcally for the exhibition, and interspersing them alongside collection holdings that exhibit recurring motifs of Pacifc crosscurrents. It is a method of disclosing something of the process involved in artists responding to cultural heritage collections. Over the past twenty years, an increasing number of Australia’s public and private museums and galleries joined global momentum to increase access to their collections for Indigenous people2
Many Indigenous communities want to reconnect with cultural heritage material that was either traded or stolen for these collections. Indigenous people in turn contribute more knowledge about collections and in some cases request repatriation of particularly precious items. Artists have been particularly keen to view this material and research archives, producing art that absorbs retrieved knowledge into a revivifed collective cultural memory.
These artistic acts of remembering are quite often a creative response that positions cultural heritage in entirely new contexts, and this is certainly the case with Robinson’s art. Museum collections themselves are represented in the exhibition, but are also explicitly referenced in a number of Robinson’s artworks whose titles draw attention to the collections themselves and what they contain. Notable examples in the exhibition include the 2012 etching with a title taken from a quote from the records of Cambridge University’s 19th century anthropologist/collector A. C. Haddon - August 23 1898 – Today I collected with much zeal, through the barter and exchange of gifts, ancient artefacts belonging to a race of indigenous Australians known as Torres Strait Islanders. Wooden masks, pearl shell pendants, smoking pipes, dance objects and a strange device called a USB fash drive were among the items obtained. A. C. Haddon. A sequel to this artwork is the 2014 linocut print titled and meanwhile back at Cambridge…a skeletal remain from the Torres Strait is studied, and a 2016 etching titled A curious bunch of bits and bobs – Oceanic artefacts at the Australian Museum . Robinson’s imagery encourages consideration of links generated in the process of bringing these collections together, as well as cultural connections inherent to the items themselves.
IMAGE RIGHT
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
IMAGE LEFT + ABOVE
August 23 1898 – Today I collected with much zeal, through the barter and exchange of gifts,ancientartefactsbelongingtoaraceofindigenousAustraliansknownasTorresStrait Islanders.Woodenmasks,pearlshellpendants,smokingpipes,danceobjectsandastrange devicecalledaUSBfashdrivewereamongtheitemsobtained.A.C.Haddon 2012
etching Artist Proof
48.6 x 98.5 cm
TOP Acuriousbunchofbitsandbobs-Oceanicartefactsatthe AustralianMuseum 2016 etching ed. 1/10
49.2 x 98.7 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE LEFT
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF CROSSCURRENTS
IMAGE
Charmstodefeatthekracken,2015 linocut ed. 1/15
97.0 x 58.3 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE LEFT
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
IMAGE ABOVE
Cowriesinaforallandscape 2015
etching Artist Proof
28.5 x 48.5 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE LEFT
Artists unknown
Collectionof3bamboocontainers, Bouganville-Buka c. early 20th century bamboo Dimensions various
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF CROSSCURRENTS
Collection items were chosen for this exhibition because of how they represent Pacifc crosscurrents – whether as objects that were actually exchanged, or as objects that bear the trace of cultural exchange. Bamboo lime containers are a perfect example. Containers such as these carried mineral lime powder used to diminish the bitter taste from chewing betel nut. Approximately ten percent of the world’s population use this stimulant, across the Pacifc and Southeast Asia and including India and east Africa. Containers are made from gourds, bamboo, bone and carved wood and often have decorations made by incised designs related to kinship clans and featuring all manner of fgurative and abstract symbols related to the spiritual culture and social status of individuals. These designs and symbols have a remarkable resonance across a broad range of Pacifc and Southeast Asian cultures.
The theme of shell money features in Robinson’s art for similar reasons. Like bamboo lime containers, shell money circulated broadly across the Pacifc and Southeast Asia with cowrie shells in particular being an almost universal form of trade. Shell money had many different kinds of value relevant to the context of trade. The spectacular clamshell wealth rings, round shell money objects, and body ornaments that are included in the exhibition are further examples of how motifs, designs, and patterns circulated around the Pacifc.
IMAGE ABOVE
Tagai,Guardianoftheheavens 2007
linocut Artist Proof 2/2
60 x 200.7 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
One of the most intriguing aspects of Robinson’s interest in Pacifc crosscurrents is perhaps the way in which his artistic and cultural intuitions tap into the emerging ancient world of the Lapita – a Pacifc voyaging people who brought a remarkably consistent cultural system to the Pacifc some 4,000 years ago3. Archaeological excavations over the past ffty years have unearthed pottery sherds, full vessels, ceramic fgurines, numerous shell, stone and bone weapons, jewellery and musical instruments, on the shores of islands in Polynesia, Micronesia, and parts of Melanesia. Called the Lapita after the island in Noumea, where remnant pottery sherds were frst documented, these expert sea voyagers travelled the Pacifc approximately 3900 and 2400 years ago. They brought with them new food plants, canoe and fshing technology, and introduced a distinctive pottery manufacture and decoration. The extent of their reach remains speculation, however Lapita have a confrmed presence over more than 300 sites, from Papua New Guinea to Samoa, Tonga, Noumea, and the Caroline Islands (Federated states of Micronesia and Palau) to the north. Recent Lapita fnds on the southern cost of Papua New Guinea suggest their migration into the Torres Strait around 2500 years ago4
Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents intersects with these recent archaeological studies through similarities in patterns, motifs, and instruments of Pacifc exchange. Beautifully decorated pots are the outstanding remnant feature of the Lapita tradition. Their decorative elongated face motif and intricately gridded patterns immediately bring to mind a pan-Pacifc aesthetic expressed through living decorative traditions of tattoo, bark cloth, and carving. Lapita designs were stamped into the clay using a fne-toothed instrument, similar to that used in traditional tattoo practices. They cultivated plants for food, introducing banana and coconut plants, and fshed using extensive knowledge of seasons and weather patterns. Lapita expansion across the Pacifc required a wealth of sustainable food and voyaging practices that still exist in the region.
59.8 x 114.0 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Gardening by reading the skies and stars is part of Robinson’s interest in Pacifc cosmology. His ‘bloom’ series are metaphors for the sustainable lifestyle afforded to Torres Strait Islander peoples through their knowledge of gardening guided by understanding environmental rhythms and patterns. AriPuilaig [2015] (translates as Maker of the rain), is a sculptural installation inspired by fowering plants and fruiting trees cultivated according to knowledge of monsoonal rains, changing seasons, and reading the signs of tidal patterns and migrating birds. Ceremonial masks were often created for rituals associated with increased garden produce. The Mawamask included in the exhibition (and featured in Robinson’s artworks), were worn by village sorcerers during harvest season. Robinson is interested in the remarkable similarities across the Asia Pacifc region regarding traditional ritual and beliefs about gardening practices, and how certain sorcerers and masks recur across the region.
Robinson’s 2.4 cubic metre sculptural installation titled, Picasso’s Lagaw Minaral [2016] (translated as Picasso’s Island Designs), was created for this exhibition and is perhaps its signature piece. The sixteen elongated spear tips represent a Pandora’s box of cultural exchange. Its assemblage of slotted hand-cut components references how Picasso drew inspiration for his experiments in abstract art from Indigenous art, including Pacifc and Torres Strait Island art held in his private collection. Robinson described how he aimed for this work to be ‘an environment of exchange in one installation’5. Picasso researched cultural heritage material in the early twentieth century when museums zealously developed their collections. Picasso was thus one of the frst artists to respond
Bligh’sencounter 2012
etching Artist Proof 2/3
29.3 x 39.0 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
to museum collections, and the crosscurrents helped change the direction of western art. Robinson’s sculptural installation brings the cycle of exchange full circle by relocating some of the Indigenous infuences on Picasso back in their context of origin. This is the true nature of global art: artists exchanging ideas and techniques, as has been the case in the Pacifc for centuries.
Sally Butler
Associate Professor in Art History
School of Communications & Arts
The University of Queensland
Footnotes:
1 Brian Robinson, Artist Statement. ‘Alineageofforefathers ’ 2015
2 Joy Hendry, Reclaiming Culture: Indigenous People and Self-Representation (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005); Christina Kreps, Liberating Culture: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Museums, Curation, and Heritage Preservation (London: Routledge, 2003)
3 Patrick Vinton Kirch, The Lapita Peoples, Ancestors of the Oceanic World (Blackwell Publishers, Oxford & Massachusetts, 1997)
4 Ian McNiven et.al., ‘New Direction in Human Colonisation of the Pacifc’. Australian Archeology No. 72 (June 2011), pp: 1-6
5 Interview with the artist 23 June 2016
Beforethemonsoonalonset 2016
mixed media wall sculpture
IMAGE
150 x 300 x 42 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Photograph: Michael Marzik
mixed media wall sculpture
x 440 x 48 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Photograph: Michael Marzik
IMAGE LEFT
Mawa-Abundanceofbloomsthroughactions,wordsandsongs 2015
IMAGE ABOVE
Artist unknown
Mask“buk”SaibaiIsland,TorresStrait Made before 1884 wood, shell
67.0 x 24.7 x 23.0 cm
Collected by Captain John Strachan in 1884
PVC plastic, enamel paint
200.5 x 110 x 44.5 cm
Courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
IMAGE
Detail of exhibition installation
Photograph: Michael Marzik
LIST OF WORKS
Unless otherwise specified, all works are by Brian Robinson and are courtesy of the Artist, Michael Reid Gallery, Sydney and Mossenson Galleries, Perth
Tagai,Guardianoftheheavens 2007
linocut Artist Proof 2/2
60 x 200.7 cm
Wovenware–Balboi 2010 etching Artist Proof 1/3
48.7 x 97.3 cm
Wovenware–Boi 2010 etching Artist Proof 1/3
42.0 x 97.3 cm
IlanMask1 2010 etching Artist Proof
17.5 x 49.6 cm
LurkingBaidamIKursi 2011
linocut Artist Proof 1/3
29.7 x 61.5 cm
Ilanregatta 2011
linocut Artist Proof 3/3
24.3 x 78.7 cm
NavigatingNarrative-Nemo’sencounterintheTorresStrait 2011
linocut Artist Proof
55.3 x 109.3 cm
HandlineNgurupaiWharf 2011
linocut Artist Proof
54.3 x 48.2 cm
CastNet,WaibenWharf 2011
linocut Artist Proof 1/1
59.5 x 45.0 cm
Bligh’sencounter 2012 etching Artist Proof 2/3
29.3 x 39.0 cm
ZenadhKesrelic1 2012 etching Trial Proof
37.2 x 23.2 cm
August231898–TodayIcollectedwithmuchzeal,through thebarterandexchangeofgifts,ancientartefactsbelonging toaraceofindigenousAustraliansknownasTorresStrait Islanders.Woodenmasks,pearlshellpendants,smoking pipes,danceobjectsandastrangedevicecalledaUSBfash drivewereamongtheitemsobtained.A.C.Haddon 2012
etching Artist Proof
48.6 x 98.5 cm
Kuika-Garka 2012
linocut Artist Proof 2/2
24.5 x 99.5 cm
UpintheheavenstheGodscontemplatetheirnextmove 2012/2013
6 panel installation, linocut mounted on canvas and mixed media
linocut ed. 2/15
329.5 x 368 x 53 cm
Abacus,kupe,notebook(thekeystoFibonacciandthe goldenratio 2012 etching Trial Proof
29.7 x 49.0 cm
Achaliceoffruitrosefromthewavesbeckoningthemto Kaikai 2014
linocut Artist Proof 1/1
46.6 x 80.3 cm
andmeanwhilebackatCambridge...askeletalremain fromtheTorresStraitisstudied 2014
linocut Artist Proof
45.7 x 30.0 cm
ClassifedSkeletalremain1 2014
colour reduction linocut Artist Proof
19.8 x 51.5 cm
Krar-Aimai101 2014
linocut ed. 14/15
70 x 49.7 cm
AriPuilaig 2015
mixed media wall sculpture
200 x 440 x 48 cm
Warriors,sorcerers+spirits 2015 linocut ed. 3/15
60 x 114 cm
Charmstodefeatthekracken 2015 linocut ed. 1/15
97.0 x 58.3 cm
Mawa-Abundanceofbloomsthroughactions,wordsand songs 2015
PVC plastic, enamel paint
200.5 x 110 x 44.5 cm
Youwilltravelinalandofmarvels 2015 linocut ed. 2/15
50 x 71.6 cm
Cowriesinaforallandscape 2015 etching Artist Proof
28.5 x 48.5 cm
Upintheheavens 2015 linocut ed. 2/15
59.8 x 114.0 cm
Alineageofforefathers 2015 linocut ed. 2/15
49.0 x 79.3 cm
Acuriousbunchofbitsandbobs-Oceanicartefactsatthe
AustralianMuseum 2016 etching ed. 1/10
49.2 x 98.7 cm
Picasso’sLagauMinaral 2016
mixed media installation
240 x 240 x 240 cm
Draftingourconcoctions 2016 linocut ed. 1/15
59.5 x 111.4 cm
Beforethemonsoonalonset 2016
mixed media wall sculpture
150 x 300 x 42 cm
Usal-thesevensistersthatplayamongstthestars 2016 linocut mounted on canvas, stick chart sculpture and plastic objects ed. 1/10
100 X 230 X 10 cm
LandSeaSky-chartingourplaceintheuniverse 2016 linocut ed. 1/10
99.2 x 193.7 cm
Loans from the Australian Museum, Sydney
Artists unknown
Collectionof2BreastOrnamentsfromSolomonIslands c. early 20th Century black pearl shell
Dimensions various
Acquired 1913
Artist unknown
ForeheadOrnamentfromMalaita,WesternProvince, SolomonIslands c. early 20th century black pearl shell and turtle shell 11 cm diameter x 1 cm
Acquired 1921
Artist unknown
Breastring-ornamentSolomonIslands c. early 20th century clamshell, woven natural fbre, pigment 11 cm diameter x 2 cm
Acquired 1930
Artist unknown
Bamboosmokingpipe“waduru”,FlyRiver,WesternProvince, PapuaNewGuinea c. 19th century
bamboo
57.0 x 6.0 cm
Acquired 1886
Artist unknown
Smokingpipe,PapuaNewGuinea c.19thcentury
bamboo
71.5 x 7.0 cm
Acquired 1893
Artists unknown
Collectionof6bamboocontainers,Bouganville-Buka c. early 20th century bamboo
Dimensions various
Artist unknown Collectionof6ArrowsfromMer(TorresStraitIsland) c. early 19th century reed, fbre, resin, leather Dimensions various
Collected from Mer (Murray Island) Torres Strait by C.M. Lewis in 1836
Artist unknown
Mask“buk”SaibaiIsland,TorresStrait pre 1884 wood, shell
67.0 x 24.7 x 23.0 cm
Collected by Captain John Strachan in 1884
Loans from the collection of Ed Boylan, Cairns
Artist unknown ShellCurrency,PapuaNewGuinea date unknown conch shell, woven natural fbre, pigment
41 x 18 x 20.5 cm
Artists unknown Collectionof3ShellCurrency date unknown clam shell
Dimensions various
Artist unknown KwomaorNukumaDagger,PapuaNewGuinea c. 20th century cassowary bone, fbre, pigment
42 x 2.5 x 3.5 cm
Artist unknown Yamfertilityfgure,PapuaNewGuinea c. 20th century wood, pigment 110 x 30.5 x 17 cm
Loans from the collection of Chris Boylan, Sydney
Artist Unknown ClamshellWealthRing2 (YUA),Arapeshpeople,Yangoru, PrinceAlexanderMountains,PapuaNewGuinea c. 20th century clamshell
17 cm diameter x 2.7 cm
Artist Unknown GiantNassaShellRing“Loloi”,Tolaipeople,EastNew Britain,PapuaNewGuinea c. mid 20th century nassa shell, cane fbre
100 cm diameter x 11.5 cm
Artist Unknown ClamshellWealthRing1(YUA),Arapeshpeople, Yangoru,PrinceAlexanderMountains,Papua NewGuinea c. 20th century clamshell
26 cm diameter x 2.5 cm
Loans from the collection of George Craig, Green Island
Artists Unknown Collectionof9AncestorfguresfromPapuaNew Guinea,Timor,Borneo,andLeti Island,Palau AlorIsland,andKisarIslandsofIndonesia date unknown wood, pigment, shell
Dimensions various
Artist Unknown SpiritFigureEastSepikProvince,PapuaNew Guinea 20th century wood, pigment
101 x 40.5 x 7.5 cm
Loans from the collection of Helen Dennett, Sydney
Artist Unknown TapaCloth“Masi”LauIsland,Fiji 20th century bark, pigment
185.5 x 62 cm
Loans from the collection of Brian Robinson
Artists unknown Collectionof2wovenbasketsfromPapuaNew Guinea
20th century natural fbre and pigment
Dimensions various
Sally Butler, (ed.) 2016 Brian Robinson: Pacifc Crosscurrents, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Queensland
ISBN 978-0-9757635-7-5
Writer and curator
Sally Butler, Associate Professor in Art History, School of Communications & Arts, The University of Queensland
Lenders
Australian Museum, Sydney (Steven Alderton, Director, Programs, Exhibitions and Cultural Collections, and Dr Stan Florerk, Database Manager | Cultural Collections & Community Engagement)
Michael Reid Gallery (Michael Reid)
The Mossenson Galleries (Dianne Mossenson)
Marineland Melanesia (George Craig)
Ed Boylan
Chris Boylan
Helen Dennett
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Printing
Elizabeth Hunter
Theo Tremblay
Djumbunji Press
Framing
Australian Art Frames
Photography
Michael Marzik
CRG Staff
Ashleigh Campbell, Curator
Installation staff
The artist wishes to thank family members
Tanya Robinson
Amber Robinson
Raidon Robinson
Leonardo Robinson
© Cairns Regional Gallery
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
The Cairns Regional Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the John Villiers Trust.
