Robyn Base was born in Melbourne in 1958 and completed a Bachelor of Education, (Secondary Arts and Crafts) at Melbourne State College in 1979. After teaching secondary art for several years, she returned to study at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2006 completing a Post Graduate Diploma of Visual Arts followed by a Master of Visual Art in 2007. Base has travelled widely and a recent trip to Antarctica has inspired this current series of works. She lives and works in Melbourne.




Installation view of "Ice,Ice, Baby", 2008


Icebergs are ephemeral beings. Constantly being re-sculpted by the elements, like all things of nature, they are in a permanent state of change, never being the same from one day to the next. There is a visceral quality about the forms, like bones, teeth and sinews, which underlines themes of decay and waste, and emphasises the transience of both ice and flesh.

These sombre paintings are of mythical forms, ghostly and otherworldly. It’s hard to tell whether the shapes are hovering in the air or on the water. Imbued with a temporal sense of waiting and watching, the icebergs seem poised as though at any given moment, they will vanish from sight.



‘Grotto’ 2007 Oil on Cotton 175cm x 233cm




‘Fortress’ 2007 Oil on Cotton 102cm x 87cm



‘Monument’ 2007 Oil on Linen 122cm x 102cm



‘Carving’ 2007 Oil on Linen 122cm x 102cm



The drawings - black ink on white paper - feature images of icebergs or iceberg-like forms that hover in an ambiguous space. The ghostly shapes themselves have almost no modelling or rendering and it is the background that has been articulated. As a result, the iceberg appears like a void, or an empty space of white, enveloped by shifting surroundings. Reminiscent of photographic negatives, the hole-like shape acts as an inversion of reality - is the iceberg there, or has it vanished? It's as though the iceberg's disappearance has left behind an indistinct image, like a blurred imprint burned on the retina when looking too long at the sun.




‘Mountains of Madness’ 2007 Ink on Paper 70cm x 100cm



Skin Deep’ 2007 Ink on Paper 70cm x 100cm



'Ghost' 2008 Ink on Paper 70cm x 100cm



'Lost' 2008 Ink on Paper 70cm x 100cm







EDUCATION

2007 Master of Visual Art
Victorian College of the Arts
2006 Postgraduate Diploma in Visual Art
Victorian College of the Arts
1979 Bachelor of Education, Secondary Arts and Crafts
Melbourne State Teachers College

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2008  ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’, Red Gallery, Fitzroy Nth, Melbourne 
2007   ‘Power- Beyond the Dividing Line’, Mudfest, Creative Arts Building, 
           The University of Melbourne
2006   ‘Madonnas, Strangers and Paradise’, Gallery hm, Alexandria, Sydney
2005   ‘Queens of Heaven’, Smyrnios Gallery, Prahran
1989    Recent Works, Ceci Cairns Gallery, Carlton

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2008 ANL Maritime Art Prize, Mission To Seafarers, Docklands, Melbourne 
        Korean International Art Fair, COEX, Seoul, South Korea 
        6 Degrees Art Prize, Frankston Arts Centre, Frankston 
        Williamstown Festival Contemporary Art Prize, Newport 
        Ecoforum08, Conrad Jupiter's, Gold Coast, Queensland

2007  ‘9 x 5’, Walker St Gallery, Dandenong 
        ‘Sustainability Through The Arts’, The Eucalypt Creative Living Centre, Tacoma & Burrinja Gallery, Upwey 
        Athenueum Club Visual Art Award, Melbourne 
        ‘Revisiting Arte Provera’, Mudfest, George Paton Gallery, The University of Melbourne 
        ‘Proud 07’, Margaret Lawrence Galleries, VCA, Melbourne 
        ‘Crossroads’- Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, Port Melbourne 
        ANZ Visual Arts Fellowship Award, ANZ Bank, Melbourne 
        Prometheus Art Award – ASAS, Merrimac, Gold Coast 
        Churchie Emerging Art Award, ACGS, East Brisbane 
        ‘Blasphemy’, Burrinja Gallery, Upwey, Victoria 
        Williamstown Festival -Tattersalls Contemporary Art Prize 
        ‘She – Who Dreams’, Walker St Gallery, Dandenong
2006 Art Melbourne 06, Gallery hm, Alexandria, Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne 
        Art Sydney 06, Gallery hm, Alexandria, Sydney 
        ‘Proud 06’, Margaret Lawrence Galleries, VCA, Melbourne 
        Athenaeum Club Visual Art Award, Melbourne 
        Linden Postcard Show, Linden - St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda
2005 Discovery Art Show, Albert Park, Melbourne

GRANTS AND AWARDS
2007 Finalist, ANZ Visual Arts Fellowship Award, Melbourne
2006 Finalist, The Nino Sanciolo Art Prize, Melbourne

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2008 Megan Backhouse, Around the Galleries, The Age, A2, 16/2/2008, pg 10.
2007 ‘VCA Graduate Exhibition 2007', (VCA School of Art Catalogue, Victorian College of the Arts), Melbourne
2007 VCA, MVA Seminars: Ice – A Distilled Life: Robyn Base www.vca.unimelb.edu.au/mvaseminars
2007 ‘Crossroads’, Exhibition Catalogue, Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, Port Melbourne
2007 Williamstown Festival Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize 2007, Exhibition Catalogue
2007 ‘Blasphemy’, Exhibition Catalogue, Burrinja Gallery, Upwey, Victoria
2006 'VCA Graduate Exhibition 2006', (VCA School of Art Catalogue, Victorian College of the Arts), Melbourne