Culcher Vulcher: William Robinson

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

When my friend and I went to see the William Robinson exhibition at the Queensland University of Technology, the first thing she said was how much it looked like a Miyazaki film. More specifically she meant Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) . 

Presumably she meant in terms of appearance; Robinson is one of Australia’s greatest living landscape artists. His work is particularly centred on rainforests. Many of his works are of the Gold Coast hinterland. Nausicaa is a cartoon set in a mythical future wherein the forests have taken on gigantic proportions—there are insects the size of light planes. The comparison seems slight but it works; both are concerned with peoples awe in the face of nature’s dark grandeur, and of our place within it. 

Nerang River Pool./Oil on Canvas. William Robinson.

Robinsons’ paintings stopped me in my tracks. They’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. To me they make the Australian landscape new.  

I can remember seeing a work of his when I was younger. The perspective—which changes throughout the painting, from looking up through the trees, to looking out of them to the horizon, to looking down at the forest from above—seemed weird. It was too much for me to take in then. Even now they’re overwhelming. They’re massive too. And the colours, which shift from dark and enigmatic to ethereal within one work, have to be absorbed in person. Photos don’t envelope you the way standing before these works—sometimes five or six large panels large—do.  

Ridge and gully in the afternoon light, 1992. William Robinson

 

His work is covered in two galleries. The large landscapes are being displayed in a temporary exhibit at the QUT Art Museum. There is more at the William Robinson Gallery in Old Government House. Inside are many of the artists’ self-portraits, including his Archibald prize winner from 1987. It is, like many others there, self-deprecating and genuinely funny. The artist depicted astride a rearing horse, his hands poncily drawn up in front of him in the style of a 19^th century dandy. Elsewhere he’s shown mucking about with a fat cow named Josephine, who stares with oily google-eyes at the viewer. I loved the Australian-ness of it, the mucking about in the face of the fathomless and unrelenting nature that’s around us. The recent floods came to mind. 

Equestrian self portrait. 1987. Winner of the Archibald Prize.

 Overall I didn’t think of Nausicaa while looking at Robinson, though the comparison is apt. Instead I thought of Princess Mononoke (1997). In that film ancient gods (both majestic and comical) roamed the deep woods of a mythical Japan. William Robinson’s work has reminded me of the beauty, danger and magic we have on our doorstep.