Installation, 2020-2021
Gouache, ink, colored pencil on paper, wood

Robbie Austin marks his return to Houston with Cargo, a new body of work exploring color, line, form, and pattern. Each wall-mounted drawing is created on found field book paper and carefully assembled in a three-dimensional open-faced frame. 

Austin began working with field books after a hurricane blew his tree and treehouse onto a neighbor’s property, exposing a trove of material. “She had boxes and boxes of these old books. I was enchanted and she was done with them,” says Austin. “The paper is stormproof. It’s infused with resin and has an inherent object-ness. The original code-like markings make for a dynamic and romantic springboard of compositional play. I react to it. My son tells me these works are treasure maps. I say treasure chests.”

Austin has exhibited both nationally and internationally and can be found in numerous private collections. He lived, worked, and exhibited in Houston from 2001-2005, relocating to Texas after receiving his BFA from CalArts and MFA in sculpture from UCLA. Austin was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1971, one mile from where he currently resides and teaches.