'[9] After graduating from art school in 1962, Owen lived on the Greek isle of Hydra from 1963 to 1966[10] and became part of an expatriate community that included George Johnston, Charmian Clift, William Lederer, Leonard Cohen,[11] and Jack Hirschman.
From 1966 – 1975 Owen lived in London where he worked as a studio assistant to John Ernest, Anthony Hill[11] and other British Constructionists, and also as a conservator for Victor Pasmore and Ben Nicholson.
From 1989 to 2001 he was Associate Professor and Head of Sculpture at RMIT University, where he implemented a graduate and postgraduate exchange programme with Utrecht School of the Arts and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam.
In 1992 he was a research fellow in Virtual Environments for free Form Design in the Invited Artists program of Advanced Computer Graphics Centre, CITRI, RMIT University.
[11] Significant group exhibitions include Four Australian Artists (Boyd, Hessing and Nolan) at Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1970; Documentation at Maki & Tamuta Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, in 1978; the Biennale of Sydney in 1979[23] and 1986;[24] D’un autre Continent: L’Australie la rêve et le réel at the ARC/Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France in 1983; Olympiad of Art at the Seoul Olympic Park, Korea in 1988; Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne in 1981, 1987 and 1993; aussemblage!
[29] Robert Owen's public commissions include: Under the Sun for Point Cook Town Centre, Melbourne, in collaboration with Joanna Buckley in 2014;[30][31] Silence and Falling Light for Arts Centre Melbourne with Fine Art Studio in 2011–2012;[32][33] Tracing Light - For Harry 3D/4D for Harry's Park, Harry Seidler Architects Sydney in 2011;[34] New Constellation (sculpture) and Interlude - Double Weave (painting) for the MLC Centre, Harry Seidler Architects, Sydney in 2007; Melbourne’s Northern Gateway, Craigieburn Bypass with Architects Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer for VIC Roads Hume Freeway Development, Victoria in 2004;[35][36] Memory Pond, fountain, light and text installation for Grattan Gardens Plaza, Prahran, Melbourne in 2001;[37] Discobolus, Hellenic Tribute, a sculpture installation for Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, Sydney 2000 Olympics; Axiom, a sculpture installation for the New Commonwealth Law Courts, Melbourne in 1998; Vessel, a public sculpture for the Nippon Exhibition Centre, Chiba, Japan in 1989[38] and Webb Bridge, Docklands, Melbourne in collaboration with DCM architects in 2003,[39][40] for which Owen and DCM Architects were awarded the prestigious Joseph Reed Architectural award for urban design in 2005.