Explaining Interconnectedness

“Now stand aside, worthy adversary.”

BLACK KNIGHT: “'Tis but a scratch.”

“A scratch? Your arm's off!”

BLACK KNIGHT: “No, it isn't.”

“Well, what's that then?”

BLACK KNIGHT: “I've had worse.”

“You liar!”

BLACK KNIGHT: “Come on you pansy!”

The Black Knight is a fictional character who appears in 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'. As his name suggests, he is a knight dressed in black, he guards a "bridge" (in reality a short plank of wood) over a small stream… which could have been easily stepped over by King Arthur but, for unknown reasons, he does not. Although supremely skilled in swordplay, the Black Knight suffers from unchecked overconfidence and a staunch refusal ever to give up.

The dominant politics in Australia, over the last twenty years, has been dominated by climate change deniers, supported both by huge media empires and self-serving corporate interest alike. Their wilful ignorance of science is perhaps explained in part, by cognitive dissonance and belief in immaculate design. The black knight future proofed me for the trauma of the absurd.
The Colonial Stockholm Syndrome seems to be prevailing, so keeping a sense of humour is perhaps the only personal freedom left.

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Growing up in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Coates often felt a sense of estrangement caused by the inauthenticity of his surroundings. This has become a central theme in his artwork as he sees this cognitive dissonance reflected in the broader social fabric of Australia.

After dropping out of high school, Robert was accepted into art school solely on the merits of his portfolio. But his restless nature and dislike of institutions let him to leave before graduating, setting him on a journey through a plethora of places and communities on the rugged edges of society.

His myriad careers, from being a chef in inner city Sydney, to working as a builder in Western Australia, deep underground in the mines of the Tanami desert or abseiling waterfront high-rises has taken him across the Australian continent several times. Mirroring his working life, Robert’s art has a muscular physicality and urgency surrounding his creations.

His themes deal with his feelings about Australia, it’s history, the immense beauty of it and the sadness that resonates through the land and it’s people. In his work he explores the relationship we have to our surroundings, specifically in relation to his own country, but also more broadly interrogating the interconnectedness of everything with a raw, unforgiving spontaneity.

Robert has exhibited work in Sydney, Perth and Darwin
Most recently in the 2019 Mosman art prize, and in the 2019 Korean-Australian Art Prize.