Robert Lee Davis: Between the Lands of Now & Then

Robert Lee Davis: Between the Lands of Now & Then

Robert Lee Davis: Between the lands of now and then is an earnest and powerful exhibition by American Australian artist Robert Lee Davis. The exhibition presents an imaginative Myriorama—a myriad of pictures and artworks—deeply rooted in storytelling, reflection and community‑driven anecdotes. Together, these works seek to replenish our understanding of how the lands we inhabit retain memory and how they bear witness to what we have achieved, removed and inhabited.

In this exhibition, we are introduced to a multitude of re‑imagined, expanded and newly‑formed artworks that traverse both mythic and non‑fictional constructs of humankind across Victoria, Gippsland and Davis’s personal history.

Beginning with an ode to the 19th ‑century Myriorama card game, the exhibition embraces the intellect of perspective and impression, charting a journey from metropolitan to regional landscapes, and offering a colossal testimony to the places encountered in a non‑linear manner.

Furthermore, Davis highlights the influence of Australian Impressionists Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin of the Heidelberg School, acknowledging their pioneering role in capturing the Australian landscape with impeccable detail.

Across the exhibition, Davis employs intuitive collaging across mixed media and found objects encountered across his travels to establish the foundations of the exhibition’s exploration of memory, experience and perspective. Through the application of upcycled materials, Davis preserves and activates a sense of what he describes as “material memory,” informing the ways these artworks reframe our understanding of the items we use and live with, as extensions of the lands that hold us. They act as a conduit to further comprehend the deep and poetic history of the objects that arrived at our disposal.

Among these collections of materials, places and histories lies an acute portrayal and tribute to Davis’s family—most significantly, his grandmother, who encouraged him to seek the world, embrace it, listen to it and allow it to shape his work.

Between the lands of now and then asks us to reconsider how we experience and store our memories of place and to enliven the past, present and future in conjunction with the lands that birth and host us. It invites us to respect and cherish the elements as they are given, to listen to the lands and to learn from the ever‑present love that nature offers us.

Image description: Mixed media collage, including acrylic paint, pen and ink, pencil, card, book paper, magazines, stamps, and found objects on board. Dimensions: 15 boards 40 cm x 80 cm each board.
The Endless Landscape, 2025 to 2026