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A gallery devoted to one of Australia’s greatest living artists will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a new exhibition opening today - Numinous: The Landscape Paintings of William Robinson.
Gallery director Vanessa Van Ooyen says Numinous showcases some of the most significant works of William Robinson’s lengthy career and his distinct impact on the Australian landscape tradition.
“The pieces in Numinous capture a sense of the unknown, the infinite and the divine. These are paintings that reflect the multifaceted and ever-changing natural world.
“William’s extraordinary portrayal of natural elements—fire, water, clouds—creates a complex sense of time and space. These depictions can be interpreted as symbols for various states of mind, the cycle of life and death, or what might exist beyond the physical realm.”
Ms Van Ooyen said the exhibition will also feature a meditation space within the gallery to provide a tranquil environment for quiet reflection, surrounded by the artist’s radiant watercolour studies from the 1970s and 1980s, depicting sunlit landscapes and heavenly night skies.
Selected works are also accompanied by vivid audio descriptions for the benefit of people who are blind or have low vision, and which offer a new perspective for everyone else.
Robinson is the only living-Australian artist with a public gallery dedicated to his work. He has won the Archibald Prize for portraiture twice (Equestrian self-portrait in 1987 and Self-portrait with stunned mullet in 1995), and the Wynne Prize for landscape in 1990 and 1996.
The Numinous exhibition features artworks drawn from the QUT Art Collection and private collections.
Ms Van Ooyen said the many highlights include Creation landscape: The dome of space and time, the final work in Robinson’s series of seven multi-panel ‘Creation’ works, which is displayed alongside a smaller study—both held by QUT—for the first time.
“We are inviting visitors to become immersed in William’s awe-inspiring landscapes and connect with the sublime power of nature,” Ms Van Ooyen said.
The exhibition catalogue will be published in early 2025 and include a commissioned essay from Indigenous writer, cultural critic and independent researcher Tristen Harwood.
William Robinson Artist Biography:
- William Robinson is a distinguished Australian contemporary artist best known for his landscapes and self-portraits, born in 1936 in Brisbane.
- A QUT alumnus and teacher, he graduated from Brisbane’s Central Technical College in 1962, which was an early forerunner of QUT’s Gardens Point campus. He had a lengthy career teaching art at several of the University’s predecessor institutions.
- Robinson left teaching in 1989 to work full-time on his art.
- Robinson is critically acclaimed for his striking compositions of south-east Queensland rainforests and seascapes of northern New South Wales.
- Robinson’s work has achieved national and international prominence, awarding him prizes that include the Archibald Prize and the Wynne Prize.
- Robinson’s work is represented in all major Australian public art museums, as well as in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Vatican Museums, Vatican City; and the British Museum, London.
- In 2007, Robinson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his outstanding achievement and service to the arts.
Numinous: The Landscape Paintings of William Robinson runs from October 1 to August 31, 2025.
Main image: William Robinson - Evening shadows, Numinbah 1999 oil on linen. QUT Art Collection. Gift of the artist under the Cultural Gifts Program, 2003.
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
