Robert MacPherson

Biography

Robert MacPherson used the rich and colourful culture of his rural childhood to address the environmental, colloquial and distinctive aspects of Australian landscape and language. Over the course of his 40-year career, he worked with text, drawings, paintings, dramatic room-scale installations, objects and sculpture.

His work explores the philosophical propositions of what constitutes a work of art and often incorporates familiar imagery and everyday materials such as road signs, paint brushes, office stationery, shovels and blankets.

For Sharjah Biennial 9 (2009), Macpherson presented a variety of existing sculptural, installation and painted works covering a period from 1973 to 1993. Exhibited across two adjacent spaces in the Sharjah Art Museum, the collected works provided a compelling glimpse into the distinct poetics of Macpherson’s life and work.

His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, including major solo presentations at the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2007) and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2001). His work was exhibited in the Sydney Biennales (2010, 2002); Sharjah Biennial (2009); University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane (2008); The Hague Sculpture Festival, the Netherlands (2007); the October Salon, Belgrade (2006); and Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2003).

MacPherson’s works can be found in numerous collections, including Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, QAGOMA in Brisbane and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Macpherson was born in 1937 in Brisbane, where he lived and worked until his death in 2021.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 9 (2009)