‘Minar Palay Mabayg’ is a new monograph on Brian Robinson, a well known Torres Strait Islander artist, sculptor and public art designer (‘Woven Fish’ (2003)) based in Cairns. Robinson works across many mediums including illustration, printmaking, sculpture and digital animation, drawing on his rich cultural background, the natural elements of his island home, mythology, history, pop culture, toys, comics, western art movements and an expansive imagination. This splendid monograph encapsulates all elements of artist Brian Robinson’s prolific creativity and provides a valuable testament to the artist’s insatiable appetite to create patterns of distinction. Robinson is a Maluyligal man from the Western Islands of Torres Strait, a Wuthathi man from the silicon sand dunes at Shelburne Bay, a descendant of the Dayak people of Sarawak (the Malay state of Borneo), a member of the Villaflor Family of the Philippines, as well as having Scottish roots through the Salmon Family and English ancestry via the Robinson Family. Born in 1973, Robinson grew up on Waiben (Thursday Island) but relocated to Cairns in 1992 to undertake art studies and where since 1995 he has maintained his professional arts practice which has spread Australia wide and across the globe.If one were to ask Robinson for a brief description of his artistic career he may well respond with the modest answer ‘pattern maker’, or ‘Minar Palay Mabayg’ in Torres Strait Island language. Whilst such a description would be true, it would completely fail to capture Robinson’s creative genius, the complexity of the themes, the ideas and the narratives in his diverse works nor the remarkable volume of high quality art forms he has produced.The publication features insights into Robinson’s early life growing up in the Torres Strait as well as delving into the many aspects of his multifaceted arts practice. Being endowed with the magical ability to intertwine numerous themes and motifs into single epic pieces he draws on his rich cultural background, his exposure to religion, the natural elements of his island home, mythology, history, pop culture, comics, toys, western art movements and a weird and wonderful imagination to create his compelling work.Robinson’s works are on public display or held in the collections of most of the leading galleries and public institutions in Australia, held in overseas collections, adorn civic public places, hang off buildings and even under the ocean at dive sites. One needs only to review Robinson’s prodigious curriculum vitae for confirmation of this fact.
