If a creative existence can only be pursued by the truly passionate, Robyn Wilson (aka Flutter Lyon) was cut for such a lifestyle. The inherent give and take of security and true love is something Robyn was perhaps predestined to exchange, as once you meet her, you cannot imagine her living any other way. Her high energy conspicuously radiates through the room, inescapably latching on to all those around her. As a visual artist who works across a variety of platforms, she is a creative who cannot be defined to any particular genre, and she prefers it that way. Whether she is performing, creative directing, illustrating, or fashion designing, her vigor – and her vision – consistently remain intact. And she does it all, as she so aptly puts, simply because she can.

“I have too much energy to do one thing,” she says, laying down the obvious. “I am complex in the way I think about things, and extremely emotionally driven. I don’t see genres. People always ask me what I do, and I hate how it’s the practice that defines you, not your work. For me, I just do whatever is most important to me at any given time.”

show with Jared Underwood from Sydney Symphony

And although many things appear to be important to Robyn, she devotes the same amount of passion to each project, which would perhaps make it seem as though her passion is endless. Indeed, if you begin to ask her about her body of work, she begins to reply in rapid verses, a sign that she has a long way to go before she slows down – if of course that ever happens. It certainly won’t for the next few years anyway, as, if all goes to plan, Robyn will be heading to New York to pursue her artistic career even further – a trip she has been preparing for the past 12 months. Looking back over even just the past few, there has been the collaboration/performance with Konstantina Mittas for Fashion Week; the 50-day Left Coast Festival at Darlinghurst’s Sedition Barber Shop (where Robyn engaged in a live tattoo performance, thereby securing her first ink), and tonight, she’s putting on an audio visual collaboration at the Museum of Contemporary Art for Creative Sydney. Suffice to say, you’ve definitely seen her around.

“The way I see it, it’s all about bringing the avant-garde back to the general public. I’m all about moments in time and being truly in each of them.”

live tattoo performance

Studios 301 major wall works with Kyle Jenkins and Ben Frost

Growing up with a champion horserider as a mother and a champion racecar driver as a father, Robyn reflects that her upbringing had a big impact on her intensity: “I’ve always had to win the race – even the one against myself.” After a year in advertising when she finished school, Robyn’s creative pull led her to East Sydney Tech, where she studied fashion. She ended the degree with what was to become her first real lure to her calling as an audiovisual, multidisciplinary artist, writing a concept and creating a show around the concept of an orgasm. She explains that she wanted to convey “that place of absolute pleasure, which cannot even be described”. Looking to the direction of French shows such as those by Galliano, she wanted to do a similar event that would “affect people forever”. She returned to advertising after that, but the power of performance eventually drew her back to where she left it.

“I want to do powerful, intense stuff and collaborate, as it is the only way to be across energy,” she explains. “My goal wasn’t to be a ‘fashion designer’, but to make the most out of every moment in life.”

fashion week

one of the scarves

But she is a designer – of scarves and sometimes jumpsuits, to be exact. Robyn sells them under her online store and describes them as tokens of her performances. This and all her work operates under the guise of View of Courage Studios, named so with a few important connotations.

“I’m all about courage; I just think it’s so bloody important. I don’t have time for weak, selfish people – I like people who are complex and multi-emotional. If you’re creative, get out there and do it – if you love someone, tell them,” she begins.

“There that question about how important creativity is in this world, and what does art matter? But it is so important – there is enough war and violence out there, you need creativity to survive. It keeps people alive.. it inspires them to breathe.”

Robyn will be performing in A Foreign Light tonight at the MCA as part of Creative Sydney. For more information, click here.

words: Seema Duggal