The Dark and Fertile Universe - Fig Tree

Where I live in Brisbane's Paddington, I am surrounded by the most amazing old Moreton Bay Fig Trees. They have obviously been here for many hundreds of years judging by the size of them. They are now totally battle scarred from having limbs removed for roads and footpaths. Some of them also have damage from graffiti and initials being carved into them. I am very moved by the fact that these trees are survivors of our urban environment. I think charcoal which is also an ancient medium (really just fancy burned sticks) is perfect to capture both detail and the global feeling of the whole lifeform.

Follow

Robyn Bauer was made a Fellow of the Royal Queensland Art Society in 2019. She is a full time artist based in Brisbane’s Paddington. She was Artist in Residence at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens in 2019. She has won numerous prizes and is well known for her colourful urban landscape paintings and alla prima still life works. She has her own gallery in Paddington and has worked at the Queensland Art Gallery, the Brisbane Institute of Art and Queensland Institute of Technology. Robyn has taught nationally and internationally and holds solo exhibitions every two years.

Her current work is a uniquely original interpretation of the still life genre. She describes this new work as Contemporary Baroque. Her work references art history, cultural artefacts and travels to exotic locations now impossible due to the pandemic. These new pieces provide an artistic escape and provide an armchair travel experience for viewers to experience the treasures of the world through carefully curated collections of objects.