Lecture 7: Public structures/persistent signals: the art of Robert Boynes by Jason Smith

If you missed Lecture 7: Public structures/persistent signals: the art of Robert Boynes by Jason Smith, in the Drill Hall Gallery’s 2026/27 Lecture Series: Artworks of significance: ideas, history, aesthetics, and cultural context, you can watch the recorded version below or on our Youtube channel. 

Lecture 7: Public structures/persistent signals: the art of Robert Boynes
Jason Smith

Join Jason Smith, Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia, as he discusses the powerful contemporary relevance and conceptual richness of the work of nationally distinguished Canberra based artist Robert Boynes. Boynes is a former head of painting at the ANU School of Art and Jason Smith has followed, written, and lectured on Boynes’s art for four decades.  During his career as a curator and art museum director, Smith has acquired Boynes’s work for the National Gallery of Victoria, Geelong Gallery, and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Jason Smith has worked in major Australian public art galleries since 1993.  Since February 2025 he has been Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. Previously, from 2016-2024 he was Director & CEO of Geelong Gallery, one of Australia’s oldest and most important regional galleries. From 2014-16 he was Curatorial Manager, Australian Art, at the Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art. Between 2008 and 2014 Jason was Director & CEO of Heide Museum of Modern Art, one of Australia’s most important cultural institutions, where he led the acclaimed reinvigoration of the Museum’s modern and contemporary artistic program. Between 1997 and 2007 Jason was Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, where he worked closely with many leading Australian and international artists. He has individually and collaboratively curated 70 solo, group and thematic exhibitions and has written on the works of more than 150 artists for a range of publications.

Find out more about our 2026/27 Lecture Series: Artworks of significance: ideas, history, aesthetics, and cultural context here.

Image: Robert Boynes, Fencing 1, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 120 × 120 × 3.5 cm. ANU Art Collection; donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by the artist, 2023