Painter Robyn Rich in focus. She looks out at the world through her lovers eyes
Robyn Rich is a lifelong "shut-in". Isolated by her chronic illness, she keeps in touch through her art, which revives and reimagines the Georgian keepsakes.
When I made the video call to Robyn Rich, I already knew that she was full of brilliant ideas. That's primarily why I wanted to interview her – to discover how her imagination works.
You may have seen her "lover's eyes" in your Instagram feed. They are meticulously painted in oil onto boards, spoons, jewellery and other objects. Indeed, she appears to have a bottomless supply of new and stunning ways to explore her theme.
Perhaps, like me, you've wondered about the source of her fascination with the "windows to the soul". She has been painting the eyes for over ten years now.
Robyn reveals that she lives and works in social isolation due to an immunity condition, which has forced her into a near-lifetime of lockdown. Her resulting craving for connection imparts a heightened meaning to her "eye portraits".
Speaking from her studio in the sustainable house she built with her engineer husband Jonathan on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Robyn explains how the eye conveys feelings.
"It's like expressing that emotion, but without words. It's just that little glimpse into someone's life and their world. It's quite a beautiful thing," she says.
"But [conversely] it's also about how we see the world – how I see the world – and my world has been quite contained. But I'm always looking out. I'm always seeing things. We've got these little, round things in our heads and we can see the world, if we're lucky enough to."
A keepsake for lovers
In the late 1700s, the Prince of Wales (later George IV) defied his father and went through an invalid form of marriage with his paramour, the widow Maria Fitzherbert, hiding a miniature portrait of her eye underneath his lapel. Only the eye was depicted in order to maintain anonymity and decorum.
This event led to lovers' eyes becoming fashionable in Georgian times. Decades later after their relationship was forced to end, as George lay dying, he asked to be buried with the eye portrait.
Working with a chronic illness
Robyn's health issues started when she was just six months old, with a collapsed lung and pneumonia. This medical event affected her immune system: "My body is constantly in this trauma state. So, it's affected everything in my body," she says.
"I was never particularly well. But then, at about the age of 18 or 19, I really got sick and, ever since, it's been this battle to try and keep me well."
Robyn avoids places where she can't keep socially distanced. Her social life often is limited to the neighbouring dog park. She peers out her kitchen window to see who has brought their pup, before walking over for some open-air conversation. She does this even though she no longer has a pet to exercise. Her chocolate labrador Billie died last year.
"Through COVID, I basically spent three years inside. It was just a really hard time, but it meant other people understood what my normal life was like. For all these years, I've had to hide away. Now everyone had to do it."
"I live with complex OCD and trauma-related PTSD, which has meant, at times, my world has felt very small and lonely. But my art and the ability to share it and connect with others through Instagram has meant I can still feel like I am part of a community and something bigger than my studio."
This is what her business looks like
Robyn rarely has a day when she is not painting or constructing something – even when she is taking a holiday with her husband in their van.
"Painting is just such a huge part of me that I really don't like not painting," she says.
"Sometimes, I might sit and paint for eight hours. And, another day, it might only be a couple of hours. It depends on what I'm working on. This year has been huge. I've had quite a lot of exhibitions, and I've still got work that I've got to get finished before the end of the year."
Robyn does not tally how many pieces she would produce in a year, but she says it would be hundreds, and each work may take anything from a couple of hours to a week.o
Robyn's work is sought-after and sells quickly through galleries, but she does not view her practice as a business.
"It's just something I have to do. It's what sustains me and gives me a reason to get up every day and create things," she says. "I'm lucky enough that I don't have to support myself. We figure I've been through so much with my health, that my art is just about being part of the community and sharing what I do.
"My income from art would be under what a minimum wage would be. If I wanted to, I could make a living from it, but I just don't push myself."
A wee gallery for teeny-tiny art
Robyn says freedom from the need to support herself financially means she can go off on a tangent with projects such as the miniature art gallery (named Gallery Proportions) she built this year. A group of 10 artists were invited to create miniature 5 × 10 cm versions of their own work and the pieces were sold (commission-free) online in just 24 hours, with a percentage donated to a women's refuge.
"It was just about involving other people and having fun together."
The gallery, made from balsa wood and offcuts, was initially meant to be just a backdrop to Robyn's own work, but it will continue to exhibit.
Starting out: finding something that worked
Robyn left school early in Year 11 and studied Merchandising at The Melbourne College of Decoration. Her first business venture was supplying embroidery kits to hobbyists and then designing household textiles.
"I couldn't work outside the house. I needed to find things that I could do that would occupy me and keep me going," she says. "There were many years of trying to work out what I could do to stay well and how I could have some sort of job.
"There just wasn't a way for me to be in the world."
"At the time, it was just survival. I was having blood transfusions every three weeks for 12 years. I'm much healthier now. I changed everything in my life, like what I eat and do, so I get out more and do things, but I still have to be very careful."
Her first art show, 30 years ago, was a collaboration. While Robyn was getting hospital treatment, one of the nurses (who had become a friend) suggested they visit the Johnston House Museum near Fitzroy Gardens. At the time, the museum was asking for submissions for an exhibition based on the house in which it is located.
"And I thought, why not? Let's give it a go," she says.
Robyn rallied a group of friends and, together, they created a whole Christmas feast made from fabric. "That was my first introduction to doing exhibitions, and I thought that maybe I had something I could contribute to the art world."
Since that first show, Robyn has been involved with six of the museum's exhibitions.
Taking a risk, finding her tribe
It felt like she had "found her tribe" when Robyn finally went to art school (Chisholm Institute of TAFE) at 39. "It was just this amazing awakening of what could be done and what the possibilities were. We did sculpture, printmaking, painting, everything."
Attending on a part-time basis, it took six years for her to complete her studies. It wasn't just that she was dragging her feet. Robyn contracted the antibiotic-resistant “golden staph” infection while she was studying and it took her two years to get over it.
"It was a real risk for me to go to art school, but I just had to feel like I was doing something. I didn't want to do it online. I wanted to experience it and be part of something. I love that engagement with other people and making other people feel part of something."
It took courage for her to stage an in-person demonstration for her first painting exhibition in 2016. She constructed a studio in the Fortyfivedownstairs not-for-profit gallery in Flinders Lane.
"I had about 60 pieces on the wall and then had people booked to come and sit for me for portraits. While we were doing that, people and school groups walked through the gallery. What was I thinking? But it was amazing and another beautiful way to interact with other people."
She repeated the exercise two years later, but says she could not do it again. "It just took so much out of me, physically."
A hunk of burning love
The birth of an obsession
Robyn started painting the lovers' eyes about 14 years ago, starting with her second show at Fortyfivedownstairs, where they mixed in with her other work. Then, she did more for the Johnston Collection, based on eyes from the old paintings and using jewellery and plates.
She noticed some people found the idea of a self-portrait to be "exposing" but felt more comfortable with a depiction of their eyes.
"They would be quite happy to have their eye painted, because they can still stay quite hidden."
Building on the idea, Robyn used Instagram to call for people who would consent to have an eye portrait done for an online exhibition, “I See You”. The subjects were asked for photos and a little information about themselves.
"It was during COVID and the stories that came out were about the position people were in. Three people passed away during that time. A lot of trust was put in me to do those paintings and tell their stories."
More than 100 artworks were created on old tins, spoons and other recycled materials.
Harvesting ideas - better than counting sheep
As an insomniac, many of Robyn's ideas come at night, when she is lying awake and staring at the ceiling.
"For me, that's a relaxation method. I just start thinking about, you know, what I'd like to do next, how I could do it, what materials I need, and how to take it right down to basics. It is like counting sheep."
That is how she came up with the notion of painting a face, hidden on the side of her bedside drawer (photo above).
"I leave my drawer slightly open at night, and I have that little painting there that I can see. I just liked that it was hidden. No one else knows it's there, you know, except for me."
Collaborations prove two heads are better than one
Collaboration plays a big part in Robyn's practice, although it has come about by happenstance, rather than strategy, she says.
Canadian jeweller Kelty Pelechytik found Robyn on Instagram in 2019 and asked her to contribute lovers eyes to her pieces. "Some of those paintings are just so tiny, eight millimetres by five millimetres. I had no idea if I could do it, so I just started and use the loupe glasses over my glasses.
The pieces sit beneath "portrait diamonds" and one locket available onsite retails at around $10,000. A ring was recently listed at around $24,000. "We've never met, but she's so supportive, and we just have this beautiful relationship.
Her busy schedule
Exhibits with Beinart Gallery in Brunswick, Antiquities group show in January
Jewellery with Kelty Pelechytik, Canada.
Jewellery with Jorge Chamizo at Arts International, Hong Kong.
Group show at Poetic Tiger Gallery, Boise, Idaho, December 7-28
The new O Gallery, Denmark, opening in January
Solo in her miniature Gallery Proportions in February.
Fiona Smith: I am an artist and former senior business journalist with the Australian Financial Review. These Business of Art newsletters are my passion project to help improve the level of business literacy in the world of art – to help artists work smarter. Please support my mission by passing this newsletter along to anyone who may find it useful.
Exhibitions
Endangered 111 Maunsell Wickes Glenmore Rd Paddington Group exhibition (Julianne Ross Allcorn), to December 24.
Finding My Way’ Natalie Martin, Lon Retreat, 25 Gill Rd, Point Lonsdale, VIC 14 November - 5 January
Left: Julianne Ross Allcorn. Right: Natalie Martin. Pictures for the Human Rights, United Nations Headquarters in New York 9 dec-12 jan, (Angelika Ann Kammerer)
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I really enjoyed this, thank you. I’m in a similar situation. I can’t risk covid so it’s just me and my artwork at home. Really in-depth portrait, thanks!