Robbie Austin has lived, worked, taught, raised a family, and created art in the same two square miles for forty of his fifty-two years. Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1971, educated in Los Angeles, California, with integral life, music, and art experiences in Dallas and Houston, Texas, Robbie takes pleasure in routines of ordinary living.

Austin’s groove was drastically interrupted when two hurricanes devastated his coastal town. “I began working with field books after a hurricane blew my tree and treehouse onto a neighbor’s property, exposing a trove of material,” says Austin. “She had boxes and boxes of these old books. I was enchanted. The paper is stormproof. It’s infused with resin and has an inherent object-ness. The original code-like markings make for dynamic and romantic springboards of compositional play. These papers range from the 1890’s through to the 1980’s. I react to them. My son tells me these works are treasure maps. I say treasure chests.”

Driven by Jenny Holzer’s truism, All things are delicately interconnected, Robbie draws from, on, and in collaboration with timeworn materials: maps, postcards, ledgers, tablecloths…platforms with an inherent story. “I find myself lured into the markings and trusting my reactions. Opaque and transparent, real and imaginary hues…they vie for position among property lines, waterways, band names, stitchings and stains. All create a nostalgic concert of form.” Robbie synthesizes locale with patterns.

Robbie Austin is currently an Artist in Residence at the Imperial Calcasieu Museum in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He has been a Fellow with the Edward F. Albee Foundation and exhibits in Texas with Mont Art House in Houston and MixHaus in Comfort. Robbie holds a BFA from CalArts and a MFA from UCLA.