The first survey in Melbourne for twenty years of eminent Australian artist Robert Owen will be presented by Heide Museum of Modern Art from 6 March to 23 May 2021. Blue Over Time will explore Owen’s 60-year career, encompassing his work from the 1960s and 1970s living in Greece and London, as well as featuring new and more recent paintings and sculptural installations.

Situated in Heide’s main galleries, the exhibition will present over thirty key works including a new iteration of the large- scale wall work Afterglow, made especially for the Heide space.

Grounded in geometry and abstraction, Owen’s striking works are inspired by his wide-ranging interests—encompassing philosophy and psychology, science and mathematics, music and literature—and reflect his life-long curiosity about the world. Underpinning his practice is a poetic and intuitive exploration of the expressive potential of light, colour and space. Through key works and a rich archival display, the exhibition Blue Over Time presents major themes, such as the intersection of art and science in Owen’s work, and his long engagement with colour as a tool to express the inexpressible.

Image: Clytie Meredith