Robert Andrew

Robert Andrew is a descendant of the Yawuru people, his Country is the lands and waters of the Broome area in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia. His work investigates the personal and family histories that have been denied or forgotten. Andrew’s work speaks to the past yet articulates a contemporary relationship to his Country—using technology to make visible the interconnecting spiritual, cultural, physical, and historical relationships with the land, waters, sky, and all living things.

Andrew’s work often combines programmable machinery with earth pigments, ochres, rocks and soil to mine historical, cultural and personal events that have been buried and distanced by the dominant paradigms of western culture.

Born in 1965 in Perth, Australia, Andrew lives and works in Brisbane. His work has been presented in major exhibitions in Australia and Internationally including: Yokohama Triennale, Japan, 2020; The National: New Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2019; Colony: Frontier Wars, National Gallery of Victoria, 2018; Experimenta Make Sense, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, 2017; and Ars Electronica, Austria, 2017. His recent solo exhibitions include: Our Mutable Histories, Ellenbrook Art Gallery, Perth, 2019; Data Stratification, Kapelica Gallery, Slovenia, 2018; and Our Mutable Histories, Museum of Brisbane, 2017. His work is held in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), and Gadens Lawyers, Brisbane.

Education

2021-2023

• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane

2018

• Doctorate in Visual Arts Candidate, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane.

2013

• Fine Art Honours, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane.

2012

• Bachelor Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023

• Held within a word, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Western Australia

2021

• Inscribed, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.

2019

• Our Mutable Histories, Ellenbrook Art Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
• Presence, Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane, Queensland.
  

2018

• Data Stratification, Kapelica Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• an unforgetting, Pop Gallery (QCA Galleries), Brisbane, Queensland.

2017

• Disruptive (ill) logic, Metro Arts, Brisbane.
• Our Mutable Histories, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Hall.

2016

• Scraping Back My Skin, SGAR, Spring Hill, Brisbane.

2014

• Residual Risk, The Hold Gallery, West End, Brisbane.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023

• Past, Present, Future: CAIA community - a beginning conversation, The Court House Gallery, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair

2022

• rīvus, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
• 4th National Indigenous Art Triennale: Ceremony (touring exhibition), UQ Art Museum, Brisbane; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• Embodied knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
  
• This language that is every stone, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane
  
• The Gold Award, Rockhampton Museum of Art, Queensland

2021

• Data Imaginary, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane
• On Earth, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
  
• Block Party, La Boite, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Myall Creek and Beyond, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
  
• TarraWarra Biennale: Slow moving waters, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Tarrawarra, Victoria
• Hyper-local: Indigenous Art Program, Brisbane City Council Outdoor Galleries, Brisbane, Queensland
• Storylines, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
  
• Horizon Festival: Final Call, Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens
  

2020

• Overlapping Magisteria: The 2020 Macfarlane Commissions, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Victoria
• The Power of Harmony, Jinan International Biennale, China.
• Brisbane Festival, Metro Arts, Brisbane.
• Afterglow, Yokohama Triennale, Japan.

2019

• A Fierce Hope, Adderton House, Brisbane.
• Experimenta Make Sense, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Morwell, Victoria.
• The National 2019, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney, New South Wales.
• After Technology, UTS Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales.

2018

• Tree Place, Noosa Regional Gallery, Noosa, Queensland.
• Experimenta Make Sense, Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton, Queensland.
• Cross-mending, Outer Space Artist Run Initiative, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Open Actions, Enoggera Reservoir, Brisbane, Queensland.
• The Art and Consequence of Collaboration, South Australian School of Art Gallery apart of Spectra, Art + Science 2018, Adelaide, South Australia.
• Myall Creek and beyond, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, New South Wales.
• Robert Andrew & Katie Breckon, Fox Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria.
• Let’s Get Dirt, Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Stanthorpe, Queensland.
• Experimenta Make Sense, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, Murwillumbah, New South Wales.
• Experimenta Make Sense, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart.
• Experimenta Make Sense, The Lock-up, Newcastle, New South Wales.
• Colony: Frontier Wars, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV, Melbourne, Victoria.
• New Dawn, Fox Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria.

2017

• Art In Soil, initiative by the Queensland Branch of Soil Science Australia, Pop Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Experimenta Make Sense, partnership with the Australian Network for Art and Technology, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria.
• Ars Electronica: Artificial Intelligence, Linz, Austria.
• Maiwar, Brisbane laneway Project, Brisbane, Queensland.

2016

• Tarrawarra Biennial: Endless Circulation, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville, Victoria.

2015

• Drawn to Experience v2, POP Gallery and Australian National University Gallery, Canberra.
• Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Brisbane, Queensland
• Discerning Judgement, Supreme Court Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland
• Superlinear, Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Moving Backwards into the future exhibition, Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria.
• Human Resources, The Hold Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.

2014

• Offset, Kuril Dhagun, State Library Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland.
• St. Andrew’s War Memorial Art Prize Exhibition, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Solid!, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Queensland.

2013

• GAS exhibition, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Middle Ground, The Hold Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.

2012

• Sovereignty, Webb Gallery, QCA, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Remap, CAIA, QCA, Brisbane, Queensland.

2011

• Art for Soul, Kurilpa gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.

2010

• CAIA Silent auction, CAIA, QCA, Brisbane, Queensland.
• Mixed Works, Brisbane Mater children’s hospital, Brisbane, Queensland.

Commissions

2020

• Grounded in the present, 12 Creek Street: The Annex, Brisbane, Queensland.
• A Connective Reveal - Community, Brisbane Festival, Brisbane City Council and Metro Arts, Brisbane City Council's Temporary Art Program 2020.

2018

• Garabara, Sydney University, FASS Building, Sydney, New South Wales.

Awards

2018

• Recipient, The Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs.

2016

• Finalist, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Geelong Gallery, VIC
• Finalist, R&M McGivern Painting Prize

2015

• Finalist, Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Griffith University Art Gallery, Queensland

2013

• Recipient, The GAS: Graduate Art Show and The Survey Room Award, Griffith University, Queensland
• Recipient, St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital Art Prize, Brisbane, Queensland

Collections

• Gadens Lawyers
• National Gallery of Australia
• National Gallery of Victoria
• Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art
• St Andrew’s Hospital Collection