ARTIST BIO

Robyn Markey is an emerging Armidale-based contemporary realist painter who creates elegant, nature-inspired paintings filled with symbolic meaning.

Raised in a creative household, Robyn exhibited a love and aptitude for the arts from a very young age. She studied both art and music at high school and chose to make her living as a specialist music and art teacher. After a number of years abroad, she returned to Australia with a deep yearning to explore and expand her art. Extensive training at Adelaide Central School of Art followed, igniting a passion for oil painting and shaping the unique perspective she brings to her paintings.

Focussing primarily on still life and florals, Robyn uses ripe fruit, vintage crockery, flowers and decorative textiles to create seemingly every day montages that are deeply grounded in symbolism and hidden meaning. A knowledgeable and passionate gardener, Robyn’s work is heavily influenced by nature and the cultural, religious and medicinal significance of fruits and plants. 

Blending traditional techniques with a modern edge, Robyn uses multiple layers to capture the beauty and complexity of fruit and flowers in a way that is both timeless and contemporary. She is known particularly for her use of colour and light. Her work is heavily influenced by the great Australian artists Nora Heysen, Margaret Olley and Margaret Preston as well as Dutch artist, Rachel Ruysch.

After teaching for many years, Robyn is now painting in her home studio full- time. She has participated in many solo and group exhibitions and, most recently, was a finalist in both the Fairholme Art Prize, and Small Works Art Prize judged by Ken Done.