Robert Owen

Robert Owen was born in Sydney in 1937 and was raised in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. He studied sculpture at the National Art School, Sydney, under Australian sculptor Lyndon Dadswell. Graduating with Honours in 1962, Owen relocated to Greece and then London, where he worked as a studio assistant for British Constructionists John Ernest and Anthony Hill and as a conservator for artists Victor Pasmore and Ben Nicholson. In 1975, Owen returned to Sydney and became involved in the Sydney and Melbourne art scenes.

Owen works across mediums of sculpture, painting, photography and installation, though his practice primarily focuses on minimalist sculpture and geometric abstract painting.

He represented Australia at the 38th Venice Biennale in 1978, and received an award for his service to the visual arts from the Australia Council in 2002. His work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Museum and Art Gallery of Tasmania, Hobart; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Ian Potter Museum of Art, The University of Melbourne; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales; Archivio Arti Contemporanee, Venice, Italy; Central Art Gallery, Beijing, China; Museo de Arts de São Paulo, Brazil; National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; National Art Gallery – Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece; and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.