ROBINSON 1994.222a-b

Brian Robinson is an interdisciplinary contemporary artist whose practice involves combining his Ailan (Torres Strait Islander) identity with imagery from popular culture. The results unite a variety of graphic styles, including graffiti art, intricate relief carvings, and construction sculptures embodying images of cultural motifs, objects and activities from Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait Islands). 

Amalgamation 1994 offers a view of Robinson’s early interest in pop culture, particularly Black culture from the United States, through his local adoption of African American street style with a focus on rap music and graffiti. Here, the artist successfully marries elements of each, despite their contradiction: international pop culture tends to idolise a hedonistic lifestyle, while many local First Nations protocols demand respect for Elders and encourage humility. The combination manifests as a prized warup (traditional drum) in the foreground of a graffitied wall. The word ‘prize’, tagged on the wall, seems to function as the artist’s signature but is also camouflaged against the richly coloured background, perhaps emblematic of Robinson’s sense of identity as an Ailan man in the contemporary world.