Robert BOYNES

Robert Boynes is a master painter and keen observer of everyday life. He makes large studies of people in unspecified urban environments. His work focuses on the anonymity and surveillance of contemporary social interaction, exploring the sounds, social and cultural authorities and minorities of public spaces and streetscapes. His often multiple paneled artworks reference cinema, televised news coverage and closed-circuit video footage. His paintings trigger memories and the reoccurring sense of familiarity. Peter Haynes, art consultant, critic and former Director of the Canberra Museum and Gallery, described Boynes’ work:

“Robert is a painter of ideas. He constantly scrutinises his world – poetry, pictures, politics, sex, the attitudes of people and the auras those people carry within themselves – in order to decipher the cryptogram that is this world. That he has found a deeply compatible visual language to give voice to his scrutinies plac[ing] him at the forefront of Australian art.”

Born in Adelaide, Boynes studied at the South Australian School of Art in the early 1960s and taught there from 1964. He went on to become Head of Painting at the Canberra School of Art for almost 30 years and continues as Adjunct Associate Professor at the ANU School of Art. Boynes has exhibited extensively across Australia, the United Kingdom and United States of America. In 2017, the Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery held a survey exhibition displaying the expansiveness of his practice. Then the following year, he was awarded, Canberra Visual Artist of the Year. His work is represented in other major collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Parliament House, Artbank, Canberra Museum and Gallery and ACT Legislative Assembly.