Leo Robba was born in Bundaberg, Queensland in 1962. Since graduating from the Queensland College of Art in 1982, he has had 35 solo exhibitions and been hung in more than 250 group exhibitions both in Australia and internationally.
Robba completed a Master’s in Fine Art from Newcastle University in 2008, and in 2017 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy of Fine Art from ANU, Canberra. His doctorate, titled The Artist’s Garden: Reshaping the Landscape, investigated the artist’s garden tradition and formal aspects and distinctive features of garden design and culture. This practice-led research explored historic images and the implications of the Colonial Picturesque including their socio-political context and how they continue to inform the work of many contemporary Australian and international artists. This work also focused on ‘landscape culture’, linking it to colonisation and Aboriginal dispossession resulting from notions of transformation and man’s primacy over nature.
Leo’s work has been exhibited across Australia in both state and regional galleries, and has been included in various travelling shows across New Zealand and Japan.
Leo has been represented by King Street Gallery since 2011. He lives and works in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
2020
Gardens: Fragments of life and loss King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2015
Looking through trees…looking through windows King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2013
Inside Shadows King Street Gallery on William
2011
The Artist’s Gardens King Street Gallery on William
Newcastle Picturesque and the English Garden The John Paynter Gallery, Newcastle
2009
Recent Paintings Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
En Plein Air Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery
From Dungog to Newcastle and Back Again John Miller Gallery, Newcastle.
2008
Regionalism in Australian Landscape Painting Newcastle University Gallery, Newcastle
Heysen Trail SOMA Gallery, Adelaide
Blood Trees Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
Romancing the Landscape Max Watters and Leo Robba, Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland
2005
Gardens of Eden and Other Views Damien Minton Gallery
2004
Around Dungog The Dungog Art Gallery
Perfect One Day Maitland Regional Art Gallery
2001
Doggett Street Studio, Brisbane
Access Contemporary Art Gallery, Sydney
2000
Bowen Galleries, Wellington, NZ
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane
1999
Access Contemporary Art Gallery
1997
Access Contemporary Art Gallery
1996
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
1995
The Beatty Gallery, Sydney
1994
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
The Beatty Gallery
Bowen Galleries NZ
1993
The Beatty Gallery
1992
Bowen Galleries NZ
1991
Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery
1990
Bowen Galleries
1989
Holdsworth Contemporary
1988
Holdsworth Contemporary
1986
Gallery One, Sydney
1985
Wickham Street Gallery, Brisbane
1984
Spring Hill Gallery, Brisbane
2019
Inside/Outside King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2018
Plein Air Painting Prize NSW Parliament House Sydney
2017
Plein Air Painting Prize NSW Parliament House Sydney
May Space, Sydney
2016
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2015
30 Years 30 Artists Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
Your Friend the Enemy S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Drill Hall and Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
Garden of Earthly Delights, QUT Brisbane, Qld
The Piano has been Drinking [Not Me] Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
2014
Gallipoli Art Prize Gallipoli Memorial Club, Sydney
Sulman Prize AGNSW, Sydney
Newcastle University Art Prize, Newcastle, NSW
2013
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
Gallipoli Art Prize Gallipoli Memorial Club
2012-13
Larapinta Trail Artist Shoalhaven City Arts Centre, NSW
Salon des Refuses S.H. Ervin, Sydney
2012
Virtual Reality: Interpreting the Landscape [King Street Gallery @ Newcastle University Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
IN [TWO] ART Maitland Regional Gallery, travelling: SH Ervin Gallery; Orange Regional Gallery; Goulburn Regional Art Gallery; Swan Hill Regional Gallery; Wollongong City Gallery, NSW; Dalby Regional Gallery, Qld; Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW; Pine Rivers Art Gallery, Qld
2011
Sydney’s Contested Landscapes: Art meets science Art & About, Customs House Forecourt, Sydney
The Larapinta Defiance Gallery. Sydney
2010
Water King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
On the Larapinta 2010 Doggett Street Studio, Brisbane, Qld
2009
Stations of the Cross St Ives uniting Church
Salon des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
2008
On the Heysen Trail S.H. Ervin Gallery
Christmas Show Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney
Kedumba Drawing Prize Kedumba
Postcards 3 John Paynter Gallery, Newcastle
Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane
ACAF .8 Bowen Galleries, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
The Great Australian BBQ Wilson Street Gallery, Newtown
Salon de Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery, Qld
Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
Knox Grammar, Sydney NSW
Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
National Gallery of Australia, ACT
Phillips Fox New Zealand
Tel Pacific Sydney, NSW
The Bundanon Trust Collection NSW
University of Newcastle NSW
