World-renowned contemporary sculptor, painter, and photographer Robert Owen. No pressure, at all.

I knew his name sounded familiar as soon as I opened up the Google document of the artists we were randomly allocated.  Upon searching him, it clicked, he was the man behind Dockland’s Webb Bridge and has been in the industry for over 50 years. Not only that, but Arc One Gallery on Flinders Lane is well known amongst Melburnians and Australians alike that it added more pressure onto the pressure that was already boiling through me.

I guess panic started to set in once Louise showcased each of our artists’ during Monday’s class. Every single one of us were allocated artists who are established within the art world, both locally and internationally with over 20 years’ experience. However, to quote Louise, “Katrina, you probably have the most recognisable artist out of everyone”. The question of “how can I produce a high quality video portrait of Robert?” also turned into the question of “how can I uphold Robert’s reputation through a high quality video portrait?” I haven’t even contacted Robert, and I was already thinking way too far ahead into the whole production! Once Louise personally told me that Robert preferred to be contacted over the phone rather than email, I was even more overwhelmed with such a simple task. With further research, I find out he used to be the Head of the Sculptor department at RMIT so it did ease the nerves to an extent.

So the next day, I take a deep breath, promise myself to not be awkward, and ring Robert. As what Louise assured me the previous day, he is definitely a really nice guy who was genuinely excited for this collaboration, and simultaneously I was put at ease knowing that this collaboration is not just a learning experience for me, but for him as well.

Before I met up with Robert, I decided to do some research with the resources available on the internet and compile open ended questions and have some idea of the answers he would provide. In particular, the questions of “who or what inspires your work?” and “what are the concepts behind your work?” are what I hope to base the video portrait on, but of course, I wanted to keep an open mind on the outcome of the initial interview and the progress in the research.

Approximately, I had about 20 questions ready to ask, but as soon as I set up the Zoom H2n recorder, Robert started to talk about the progress of the paintings in his studio in Collingwood and then moved on to his time in Greece during the 1960s that the questions became irrelevant. While Robert went to the back to make coffee, I started to absorb my surroundings; his current works and the Jazz music in the background. The surroundings of where Robert’s prestigious work has been produced and conceptualised. So far, Robert has been working on a few paintings that are similar with his current exhibition at Arc One Gallery and have been a working progress since 2014. What fascinated me the most was how Robert explained how each of his works were part of a family, the same DNA but varied in certain ways. For example, his sculptures all contained the same characteristics of a cube but all varied in the length of each side and face.

When I asked Robert about the concept of each of his work, he found himself struggling to explain where to start. So he would often begin from his childhood and progress into his inspirations and collaborations, which enabled me to understand how it all progressed. All his works immerse the viewer to interact with this relationship of light, space and colour and therefore invites multiple interpretations of his creations.

At this point in the pre-production process, I find myself fixating on Robert’s concepts behind his work, but at the same time I am struggling to still find an absolute focal point since everything that Robert would say would branch off from one idea to another. I could either talk about this relationship of light, space and colour, or how each of his pieces would vary yet belong to the same family and then relate that back to his upbringing and his time in Greece. Thankfully, he has provided with catalogues of previous exhibitions for me to thoroughly look through and I was lucky enough to record the entire conversation. I plan to definitely film footage of his current exhibition, interview him at his studio, film him at work, and to most importantly keep him in the loop with suggestions and a filming schedule. In terms of gear, I plan to use the Sony X-200 camera and a lapel microphone for the interview and my DSLR camera to film and capture images of his work.

At the moment, it may seem overwhelming and not so definite, but what I am definitely sure about is that I am privileged and motivated to produce a video portrait that genuinely presents Robert as one Australia’s most respected artists’.