Pleasant Plains Workshop is pleased to present
a solo project, Wired, by artist Amber Robles-Gordon. Robles-Gordon
recently received her MFA from Howard University and works
in mixed media, textile, photography, and painting.
All of the works presented here have wire as
their structural core – it forms an armature used by
the artist to build wall works that are familiar in their
materiality yet remain firmly grounded in abstraction. Using
found objects, the works are public declarations of private
mementos that explore patterns, color, and materials, while
engaging with Robles-Gordon’s cultural identity –a
blend of Caribbean, Latin American, and African American.
In this regard, the two works that anchor the
main gallery wall act as family crests with their regal form
and tight-knit coils, while many of the other works are more
playfully ceremonial, harkening thoughts of Carnival and celebratory
cultural objects. The artist’s site-specific window installation,
‘Beyond the Visual Rainbow,’ is evocative of a net
cast by the artist that captures fragments of a personal history
within the entangled bits of clothing and household items.
Robles-Gordon was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Arlington
VA. Her family heritage stems from Puerto Rico, US Virgin
Islands, and British Virgin Islands. With ‘Beyond the
Visual Rainbow’, she charts her personal history through
a patchwork of cultural and familial traditions, as well as
object that evoke femininity and the coming of age.
Robles-Gordon describes her practice as being
influenced by artists such as Sam Gilliam and Alma Thomas.
The Gilliam reference is perhaps most striking in Robles-Gordon’s
work on draped fabric (not exhibited here), but is also relevant
in her use of color and assemblage materials in Wired. Her
playful approach to art-making is also noteworthy. The absence
of complete closure, and her interest in materiality, is attuned
to the concerns of contemporary abstractionists like Cordy
Ryman and Lauren Luloff, both of whom also work with sculptural
wall works.
The artist’s use of unconventional materials
to create a new vernacular narrative is also evocative of
Eva Hesse. Both artists have underscores of femininity and
gender identity in their work without necessarily wanting
to be categorized by those decisions.
With this exhibition, Amber Robles-Gordon has
achieved a visual celebration of color, texture and identity.
Robles-Gordon is an emerging artist whose work is hard wired
for success.
30
Americans: Under the Influence
Thursday, November 17, 2011, 6-9 p.m.
Frances and Armand Hammer Auditorium, Corcoran Gallery of
Art
Featuring 30 Americans artist
John Bankston and presentations by Mazin Abdelhameid, Cedric
Baker, Holly Bass, Tom Block, Wesley Clark, Michele Coburn,
Lori Crawford, Gary Lockwood/ Freehand Profit, Carrie Nobles,
Jamea Richmond-Edward, and Amber Robles-Gordon
Presented by the Corcoran Contemporaries
and Washington Project for the Arts
Join us for an evening celebrating local artists
and the artists of 30 Americans! Under the Influence will
feature eleven artists giving five-minute presentations about
their work and the influence one of the artists in 30 Americans
has had on their artistic practice. 30 Americans artist John
Bankston selected the eleven artists from an open call and
will begin the evening with a short presentation about his
own work and influences.
Under the Influence highlights the influence
of the artists of 30 Americans on the work of up-and-coming
artists and invites the audience to engage with artists and
their work in an exciting, innovative way. The presentations
will be followed by a reception and viewing of 30 Americans.
above images, clockwise from left: Jamea
Richmond-Edwards, I am Here (detail), 2009, Ink, acrylic,
graphite and collaged paper on canvas; Kerry James Marshall,
Untitled (detail), 2009, Acrylic on PVC; Holly Bass,
African Futures: DC, 2010, Photo documentation of live
performance, photo by Rosina Photography; Kara Walker, Slavery!
Slavery! Presenting a GRAND and LIFELIKE Panoramic...
(detail), 1997, Cut paper and adhesive on wall
WPA is supported by its members,
Board of Directors, invaluable volunteers, and by generous
contributions from numerous individuals and the William C.
Paley Foundation, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation,
Susan & Dixon Butler, Giselle & Benjamin Huberman,
Abramson Family Foundation, Carolyn Alper, Akridge, Arent
Fox LLP, The Athena Foundation, Bernstein Family Foundation,
Liz & Tim Cullen, Caroline Fawcett & Tom O'Donnell,
Sandra & James Fitzpatrick, Carol Brown Goldberg &
Henry H. Goldberg, Corri Goldman & Michael Spivey, Haleh
Design, Hickok Cole Architects, Betsy Karel, Yvette Kraft,
Aimee & Robert Lehrman, Stephanie & Keith Lemer/WellNet
Healthcare, Marshfield Associates, Carol & David Pensky,
Susan Pillsbury, Heather & Tony Podesta, Richard Seaton
& Dr. John Berger, Sidley Austin Foundation, Robert Shields
Interiors, TTR Sotheby's International Realty, Vivo Design,
Alexia & Roderick von Lipsey, The Washington Post Company,
and William Wooby.
Washington Project for the
Arts is pleased to announce OPTIONS 2011,
Amber Robles-Gordon (Washington, DC)
Exhibition Dates: September
15 - October 29, 2011
Exhibition Location: 629 New York Avenue, NW, 2nd Floor,
Washington, DC
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 15, 6-8pm
Curators Talk: Saturday, October 1, 3pm
Washington Project for the Arts
is pleased to announce OPTIONS 2011, the fourteenth installment
of WPA's biennial exhibition of emerging and unrepresented
artists from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. OPTIONS 2011 will
take place from September 15 through October 29, 2011 at
629 New York Avenue, NW, 2nd floor, Washington, DC. Highlighting
the breadth and diversity of contemporary art practice in
the area, OPTIONS 2011 will include work by fourteen artists
selected by curator Stefanie Fedor.
Participating artists include:
John James Anderson (Washington, DC), Bittersweet Zine (Washington,
DC), Heather Boaz (Baltimore, MD), Amy Chan (Baltimore,
MD), Mahwish Chishty (Hyattsville, MD), Lisa Dillin (Baltimore,
MD), Adam Dwight (Takoma Park, MD), Twig Harper (Baltimore,
MD), Artemis Herber (Owings Mills, MD), Katherine Mann (Washington,
DC), Jimmy Miracle (Washington, DC), Amber Robles-Gordon
(Washington, DC), Oscar Santillan (Richmond, VA), and Stewart
Watson (Baltimore, MD).
Young black professionals:
The new face of gentrification
Anacostia, a neighborhood once synonymous with
crime and violence, now offers yoga studios and chai lattes.
Young black professionals are spurring development and gentrification
of Ward 8.
Amber Robles-Gordon works in the living room
of her Anacostia home. Gordon earned an Master of Fine Arts
degree from Howard University.
In addition to making art, Gordon teaches yoga
at Anacostia’s Spirit Anacostia Health and Wellness Center.
Her commute to work is 10 minutes.
Amber Robles-Gordon displays her work at the
Pleasant Plains Workshop, a shared studio space on Georgia
Avenue.
Shaunté Gates, Amber Robles-Gordon
and Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Shaunté Gates. In my
dreams II. 2011 Amber Robles-Gordon Peacock. 2011 Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Revealation. 2011
Parish Gallery Exhibition:
August 19- September12, 2011
Reception: August 19, 2011
6-8pm
WASHINGTON, DC- Parish Gallery, in conjunction
with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is pleased
to present an exhibition by three artists – Shaunté
Gates, Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles-Gordon, “Delusions
of Grandeur: Ascension”. This show will open with a reception
from 6:00-8:00 pm on Friday, August 19th, and will run through
September 16th, 2011.
This exhibition is the result of an artistic
dialog about the “delusions of grandeur” they each
possess in order to continue progressing in their careers
and most importantly in their artwork. Ascension, the act
of rising to an important position or a higher level, is the
theme adapted for this current body of work. Each artist presents
their individual interpretation of the act of ascending.
Artists Shaunté Gates work combines multiple
processes and genres, by taking appropriations and gestures
from pop culture and print media which are combined to create
elusive narratives. Gate’s works seduce us into an imaginary
world of juxtaposition and fantasy, a place when the contradictions
of culture and the human psyche are collided. His mixed media
paintings capture the beauty in subjects that may appear bleak
to the average eye at first glance. Gates ideas are derived
from the pain, joy, and the beautiful way everything universally
is connected.
Jamea Richmond-Edwards work explores the contradictions
of female and cultural identity and with reference to Greek
Mythology, African folklore and international fashion. Richmond-
Edwards examine how mythologies from ancient times translate
into today’s culture and time allegorically. Her figures
are empowered by their survivalist adaptation to circumstance.
Their sharp features are inspired by both high fashion models
and the everyday women in her community.
Amber Robles-Gordon mixed media artworks draw
upon her journey through motherhood, genealogy, healing, and
being alive today. They represent her technical and scholarly
growth as an artist, and are supported by her professional
development in the Washington, DC area. Her two- and three-dimensional
pieces it within an expansive notion of painting and sculptural
form. She uses stretched canvas to support an accumulation
of media in low- or sharp-relief. These assemblages require
a close look to interpret their individual parts. Collectively,
these parts form a visual energy comprised of the previous
“lives” of the objects, their former owners, and
the artist’s hand.
Parish Gallery primarily, but not exclusively,
represents contemporary visual artists of significance from
Africa and the African Diaspora. In selecting art and artists,
Parish Gallery exercises high ethical, curatorial and market
selection standards, catering to the spirit of social preservation
and regeneration in collecting the art. Parish Gallery is
open Tuesday thru Saturday from noon to 6:00 PM or by appointment.
Parish Gallery
1054 31 Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
Wild Fabric: Washington Post
Review of Wired exhibition
Amber Robles-Gordon’s show at Pleasant
Plains Workshop is called “Wired,” but fabric is
the principal ingredient. Working entirely with found objects,
the Caribbean-rooted local artist arrays ribbons and scraps
on (mostly) wire frameworks. The result is a riot of colors
and patterns, evoking the tropics while playing on the contrast
between the rigid frames and malleable fabric. In such pieces
as “Dynasty,” the tightly clumped tatters suggest
both thick vegetation and the rhythms and hues of island life.
Although Robles-Gordon does sometimes bend the
found frameworks to achieve the basic contour she wants, a
few of the pieces still seem a little haphazard. The most
appealing works are the ones built on recognizable shapes,
notably “And So It Is.” Here, the colorful remnants
hang on a gold-painted bicycle wheel, giving form to the patchwork.
The artist has compared this piece to a family crest, but
even without the personal connotations, the abundance of tones
and textures is pungent.
Jenkins is a freelance writer.
Wired by Amber Robles-Gordon
on view through July 23 at the Pleasant Plains Workshop. 2608
Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001. pleasantplainsworkshop.blogspot.com.
Art For Joy,
Love and Life
a community voice project
digital storytelling
In Fall 2010, film and anthropology students
from American University’s School of Communication and
College of Arts and Sciences, working with the Smithsonian
Anacostia Community Museum, assisted community artists in
Southeast Washington to create their own original digital
stories.
In this class, COMMUNITY DOCUMENTARY: Stories
of Transformation, storytellers use photographs, family documents,
community archives, and their own voice to create first-person
narratives.
Amber Robles-Gordon received some blunt criticism
during her graduate studies when she was told she couldn’t
seem to separate herself from her artwork. Robles-Gordon became
introspective, and identified why she’s so entrenched
in her art.
"I really enjoyed the experience.
Lena was wonderful,
we really clicked. We became friends, exchanging
stories and music."
- Amber Robles-Gordon
JUNE
EXHIBITION:
Amber Robles-Gordon, WIRED
curated by Kristina Bilonick
June 18 - July 16, 2011
Opening Reception: Sat. June 18, 6-9pm
Pleasant Plains Workshop is pleased to present
a solo project, Wired, by artist, Amber Robles-Gordon. Robles-Gordon
recently received her MFA from Howard University and works
in mixed media, textile, photography, and painting.
For this exhibition, Robles-Gordon has transformed
found objects with ribbons, gimp, fabric, wire and other materials
to create exciting wall works that explore patterns, color
and material. The works also speak to her cultural identity
which is influenced by Caribbean, Latin-American, and African-American
cultures.
Please join us for the opening on June 18th,
from 6-9 PM.
Amber Robles-Gordon: The Sweet
Glitter Juju of Life
Amber Robles-Gordon‘s work is deeply personal.
Her mixed media paintings and sculptures draw upon her journey
through motherhood, genealogy, healing, and being alive today.
They represent her technical and scholarly growth as an artist,
and are inspired by her professional development in the Washington,
DC area. A recent graduate of the Howard University MFA Program
(2010), Robles-Gordon is a board member of Black Artists of
DC (BADC), and takes part in a diverse and multigenerational
arts community. She is also an arts advocate who participates
in several cross-cultural and cross-town initiatives that
characterize Washington, DC‘s history of individual and
grassroots organizational support for artists. Robles-Gordon
has expressed that this rigorous and nurturing technical and
conceptual dialogue has enriched her artistic process and
her life; it has affected her approach to materials, techniques,
and her vision as an artist. She notes the influence of many
artists who have inspired her to see art-making as a profound
engagement with oneself and the world.
Her two- and three-dimensional pieces fit within
an expansive notion of painting and sculptural form. She uses
wood or painted, stretched canvas, or chicken wire to support
an accumulation of media in low- or sharp-relief. These assemblages
require a close look to interpret their individual parts.
Collectively, each object contributes to the palpable energy
of the overall piece—hinting at their previous functions
and the ?lives? of their former owners—configured by
the artist‘s hands.
Robles-Gordon gathers and reshapes the sweet
glitter juju of life into her work. Individual moments, personal
vignettes, and more universal themes are equally woven into
it. She examines spirituality, the phenomena of childbirth
and motherhood, and the assignment of value to every little
thing. She considers the blessings and burdens of femininity,
and what it means to be a woman. She recycles fragments of
garments, handbags, and accessories to engage the ways that
these vanity objects—often used to define beauty—are
also traps. She explores various metaphysical systems as a
source of inspiration after an accident gave her the opportunity
to test her faith and healing ability.
Glitter-coated streams of paint add sparkle and shine to a
range of discarded or thrifted objects. She breaks them down
and reassembles them into collaged arrangements that are influenced
by artists such as Romare Bearden, James Brown, Francine Haskins,
Frida Kahlo, Georges Seurat, Frank Smith, and Alma Thomas.
Robles-Gordon fuses varied influences into compositions that
balance blank space, color, and hyper-materiality. She creates
a subtle tension, and the possibility of opposing readings
in her placement of assemblaged elements amidst dripping paint—which
may represent the lyrical expression of painful experiences.
These works belong to the series Milked, and simulate the
outstretched wings of birds-in-flight against blue or yellow
skies, butterflies, or the seductive curves of women‘s
undergarments. Her affinity for lacy details, gloves, doilies,
slips, and purses consist of a range of past and present accessories
and small objects of home décor. She chooses from things—her
own and others‘—to pull apart and reform; to give
new life, and to scatter between various works like a sprinkling
of fairy dust.
She plays with notions of masculine and feminine
energy (as objectified) to address distinctions between the
admiration of beauty, and its ethereal source or essence.
Found dragonflies, dolls, deconstructed fan parts, remote
controls, billiard balls, trophies, curling irons, hood ornaments,
handles, and sparkly red children‘s maryjanes refer to
male/female dynamics, and popular culture references, like
fairy princesses, Oz, and what it may mean to be “?behind
the eight ball.”
Robles-Gordon‘s collage sensibilities were
influenced by artist-activist Romare Bearden (1901– 1988).
Bearden‘s prolific work in collage shaped a visual narrative
style that conveyed a palpable sense of 20th-century black
life in America. Robles-Gordon states:
I identify with Bearden‘s collages because I employ similar
techniques and processes of cutting, pasting, reconstructing
forms, faces, and concepts from photographs, magazines, and
other paper sources to convey a message. I interpret his method
and collages as a form of visual journaling. Through making
collages, I have established a relationship between texture,
symmetry, harmony, and compositional balance.
Inspired by Mexican surrealist, Frida Kahlo
(1907-1954), Robles-Gordon considers Kahlo‘s ability
to overcome tragedy, illness, and grief as an expression of
her strength, and its role as a source for her paintings.
As one of the best-known women artists of the early 20th-century,
Kahlo used life‘s obstacles as a way to hone and articulate
her artistic voice:
Kahlo was a master at rendering her dreams,
pain, and innermost thoughts and feelings. I am inspired
by her personal connection to her art and its role within
her life. Further, her artistic treatment of women and the
depiction of her traumatic life have influenced my desire
to create works reflective of my experiences as a woman.
In Bearden and Kahlo, Robles-Gordon discovered
the arts to be a meaningful ways to convey personal narratives
and relevant sociopolitical issues. She admires each artist‘s
work as an embodiment of cultural pride, and as a means to
stake a position on identity, subjugation, and giving voice
to the voiceless. By combining personal elements with timeless
and universal themes, Robles-Gordon uses collage, and non-traditional
painterly devices to examine contemporary social issues: accumulation
and waste, beauty and femininity, motherhood, spirituality,
and the nonsensical or unexplainable juxtapositions that characterize
daily existence.
In the work of pioneering abstract painter Alma
Thomas (1891-1978), Robles-Gordon reflects upon Thomas‘s
interpretation of primary color schemes, geometry, and composition.
From French artist Georges Seurat‘s (1859-1891), she
learned about the process of optical color mixing. Robles-Gordon
states:
Thomas left small spaces of white canvas
in between her brush strokes, creating the appearance of
mosaics or stained glasswork.... [By studying this,] I began
to evaluate the value, purpose, and aesthetic aspects of
my art.... [Seurat] used white space to enhance the perception
of color. He created a technique called ‘pointillism,‘
in which an image is rendered using tiny dots of primary
and secondary colors. When the image is viewed from afar,
the eye fuses the colors and creates intermediate colors.
She applied these concepts of color and technique
to a body of untitled works in the series, Identification
of the Matrix Grid. Begun in 2004, these pieces evolved from
an artistic inquiry that used grid structures to create multi-colored
layered matrices based on squares or rectangles. She cites
Thomas and Seurat as sources for her grids:
In my early works, I used torn, colored paper to create figurative
paper mosaic compositions. Ripping the paper revealed its
white fiber pulp, and provided areas of white space between
each portion of color. Many of my paper mosaics appear from
afar to look like Thomas‘s paintings until you come closer
and see the texture of overlapping paper. The manner in which
Thomas and Seurat used color and white space has influenced
the way I visually perceive color and has informed my placement
of color in the majority of these works.
As a member of BADC, Robles-Gordon has positioned
her art as a part of an artist community that values African-inspired
techniques and philosophies as a tool for exploring personal
and artistic awareness. Her series, Cosmic Black, was created
for the 2009 BADC exhibition, The Black Exhibit. Like the
20th-century exhibitions devoted to the color black as an
expression of the sociopolitical issues associated with blackness,
the focus of this show was to reinforce principles such as
?black is beautiful? and the positive attributes of the color.
Within BADC, fiber and textile artist James
Brown, and mixed-media artist Francine Haskins have inspired
Robles-Gordon‘s professional development. In Brown and
Haskins, Robles- Gordon appreciates how each artist has contributed
to an expansive understanding of the possibilities of textiles,
fiber arts, and found objects in her own work. She also sees
the work of artist, professor, and AfriCOBRA member, Frank
Smith as an inspiration for developing mixed- media canvases
and sculptures that combine sewing and painting. The physicality
of Smith‘s work comes from layers of painted, cross-hatched
squares, stamps, or other materials featured in kinetic arrangements.
The wall-mounted draped textiles in her series, Heal Thyself
Series, pay homage to Smith‘s quilted paintings, his
use of space and brilliant palettes. Robles-Gordon says of
these three artists:
In their own individual styles and techniques,
Brown, Haskins, and Smith create two- dimensional figurative
and abstracted compositions that appear to have varying
planes of visual movement and rhythm that document, explore,
and celebrate African and African American history and culture.
Through exposure to their works and my relationships with
Brown, Haskins, and Smith, they have supported and challenged
me to continue my exploration of textiles, cloth, and sewing
and have strongly encouraged my desire to go beyond the
conventional practice of presenting works in frames.
In Robles-Gordon‘s recent work, familiar
elements—straps, curling irons, gloves, shoes, dragonflies,
and fans—take on new meanings and forms on her characteristically
canvas, chicken wire, or wooden supports. The compositional
possibilities are as limitless as her stockpile of materials
and their conceptual associations. As the work moves this
direction, her structural sensibilities—that once relied
on grids and matrices—are being transformed into less
regimented, more three-dimensional, and visually-interactive
compositions. She states:
Though the matrix is still at the core of most
of my compositions, the works are no longer defined by a grid
format or flat surface. Taking away the boundaries of traditional
framing encouraged me to allow the materials, colors, and
energy to hang, flow, and ?leap off? of flat canvas, which
ultimately leads to the shift from two-dimensional to three-dimensional
works.
These developing concepts are best revealed
in the Heal Thyself Series, the Chicken Wire Series, and At
the Altar. Heal Thyself consists of wall hangings made from
textiles and other media mounted on canvas. The Chicken Wire
Series is comprised of mixed media works woven through and
sculpted around a chicken wire base. At the Altar is composed
of folded and draped canvases that are brightly painted and
adorned with an array of found objects from plastic fruit
to things associated with childbirth and maternity.
Tosha Grantham is an artist, writer, and independent curator.
She is completing a PhD in African Diaspora Art History at
the University of Maryland College Park.
Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media artist who lives in Washington,
DC.
Upcoming Exhibitions
Wired (June 17 – July 17, 2011)
Pleasant Plains Workshop:
2608 Georgia Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20009
Opening Reception: June 18, 2011 from 6-9 pm
Curator: Kristina Bilonik Tel: (202) 415-1466
Website: www.pleasantplains.com
(Solo exhibition)
Delusions of Grandeur (July 8 – August
30, 2011)
Mandarin Oriental Hotel/DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Exhibition Space 1330 Maryland Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20024
Opens: July 8, 2011
Contact: Jamea Richmond-Edwards Tel: (571) 288-1086
(Group exhibition: Shaunte Gates, Jamea Richmond and Amber
Robles-Gordon)
Pen Arts presents: Lace works by Amber Robles-Gordon (October
31 - November 5)
Keynote speaker for the DC Branch's November meeting
The National League of American Pen Women
National Headquarters Pen Arts Building
1300 Seventeenth Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-1973
Opening Reception: To be announced
phone - 202-785-1997
fax - 202-452-8868
Website: www.americanpenwomen.org
(Solo Exhibition)
A Group Exhibition of Recent
Works by BADC and WPA Member Artists opens at Hillyer Art
Space in Washington, D.C.
A GROUP EXHIBITION, titled "Process: Reaffirmation,"
presenting recent works by Black Artists of D.C. (BADC) and
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) member artists opened
at Hillyer Art Space on Friday evening, April 1. The exhibition,
which is curated by Gina Marie Lewis, focuses on and reaffirms
the processes of artists within their studios, honors the
personal philosophies, practices, and vocabularies of eight
artists and attempts to explore a visual dialogue between
their works.
Beyond The Pale: Works by
Amber Robles-Gordon, Huguette Roe, Suzanna Fields, Gina Denton
and Joseph Barbaccia.
Emerson Gallery, McLean Project for the Arts
January 20 – March 5, 2011
The term Beyond the Pale was originally
used to describe a barrier meant to enclose or define territory
during military maneuvers beyond which it was not permissible
to go. In more general contemporary terms, it has now come
to mean an action or thing that is regarded as outside the
limits of what is acceptable. The five artists in this exhibition,
Amber Robles-Gordon, Huguette Roe, Suzanna Fields, Gina
Denton and Joesph Barbaccia, all work fearlessly
and with determination outside the barriers usually associated
with traditional art making. They create works that are distinct,
idiosyncratic expressions of their own individuality, breaking
old rules only to write new ones regarding materials used,
processes employed, and formal traditions no longer strictly
adhered to.
Although the artists were chosen for their individuality,
there are also commonalities that emerge when their works
are seen together. All are interested in both the idea and
process of accumulation, many parts merging to become a whole.
All are also collectors in their own way, bringing together
imagery, materials, and ideas. And all five bring these components
together carefully and primarily by hand, through processes
that embrace repetition and the creative, meditative state
it can induce.
Amber Robles-Gordon works in a studio full of the accumulations
necessary to create her work. Bits of fabric, tile, beads,
string, ribbons, and wire are collected and organized, ready
to become mixed media wall oriented pieces. Some of her works
are structured and geometric, while others are masses of vibrant
complexity organized around basic shapes such as an eye, the
DNA helix or a rising wingspan. These are works that entice
the viewer to look in as well as at, to experience fully a
carefully controlled chaos and all the beautiful paradoxes
encompassed therein.
Huguette Roe’s photographs depict collections
of images of accumulated recycled materials. Photographed
from a close-in vantage point, the images become studies of
color, pattern and repetition. They are profoundly beautiful
in a formal sense, and also silently profound conceptually,
as they highlight and represent the beauty in what we refuse
and reuse. Roe’s choice of subject matter lies outside
the boundary, but she skillfully employs the full strength
of her artistic skills to create works that entice visually
as they simultaneously raise some of our society’s largest
quandaries.
Suzanna Fields uses the traditional material of acrylic
paint in distinctly new and non- traditional ways. Working
with the paint in both two and three dimensions, she employs
just about everything except a brush to build abstract works
that celebrate both wonder and unease. Like the other artists
in this exhibition, she is comfortable with the fullness of
paradox, as she explores and embraces cycles, rejuvenation,
oscillation, order and patterns undone. Fields is at her core
an experimenter, bringing this to bear fully through both
method and materials.
Baltimore artist Gina Denton is also a collector and
compiler. Working primarily with textile materials of one
sort or another, she builds oddly beautiful and slightly sinister
sculptures that refer, by virtue of their shape and colors,
to body parts or living beings. At one point stating her artistic
goal as “ protecting and personifying the pseudo-animate”
Denton has indeed created works that seem to have crossed
the border to reside in a world all their own. Using recycled
sweaters, felted colored wool, bits of fabric scraps and hair
of both the human and animal variety, she has formulated fantastic
objects that are at once familiar, friendly and also a bit
frightening.
Joseph Barbaccia’s sculptures are both simple
and complex. Using as a base clear and meaningful forms- a
knot, a gathering of flames, an animated but unidentifiable
creature- Barbaccia then covers the shape with a complex skin
of shining sequins, a distinctly unorthodox but very effective
material choice. The pieces become jewel-like and are digested
wholly, through a gestalt-like process, experienced as much
as seen. He describes his intention as “paring down visual
insight to a more essential level of expression” and
the viewer finds that he has done just that. One meets each
individual piece in the same way one meets another person-simply
as itself.
The works in this exhibition, shown together, do develop a
dialogue. They speak in unison fleetingly, but enough to create
an undercurrent of harmony that resonates throughout the space.
They speak together of unabashed and unconventional beauty,
and of interpretive acceptance; an invitation to read the
work on your own terms. They speak of the calmness of repetition
and the excitement of a different approach: a new material;
a new way of working with the familiar; an innovative choice.
They speak of accumulating and assimilating. And mostly they
speak together of barriers pushed, borders crossed, and new
territory explored.
Saturday, January 22 11am to 4pm - coffee, food
and conversation with artists.
MATRICES OF TRANSFORMATION:
A Process of Discovery through Collage and Assemblage
The Art of Amber Robles-Gordon
My Thesis Defense Exhibition
Exhibition: Monday November
22, 2010- Wednesday December 1, 2010 Thesis Defense: Monday November 29, 2020 3:00-500 pm
Michael Platt’s Studio
1468 Chapin Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(Between Adams and Bryant Street.)
Viewing by appt.
Contact (202) 332-6917 or michealbplatt@verizon.net
Amber Robles–Gordon (240) 417-4888 aroblesgordon@yahoo.com
FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four
Women
Presented by Black Artists of DC (BADC)
Featuring work by Jamea Richmond
Edwards, Danielle Scruggs, Kristen Hayes, Amber Robles-Gordon
Curated by Zoma Wallace
FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Women
seeks to spark a visual discussion between artworks created
by Black women and a verbal dialogue between those who view
and purchase them. The topic of discussion is material. What
are artists using? What materials do they feel drawn to? How
does Black femininity affect or reflect itself in the chosen
material(s), if at all? How does femininity affect the delivery
and/or reception of the message?
The voices of the women artists
in this exhibition are heard primarily through material form.
Embracing both visual and verbal discussion, FOCUS GROUP:
Four Walls, Four Women hopes to determine how effectively
unique material languages are deciphered/valued/appreciated/acquired
by a universal audience and market.
FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Women
is the second in a series of collaborations between DC Arts
Center and Black Artists of DC. The purpose of Black Artists
of DC (BADC) is to create a Black artists community to promote,
develop and validate the culture, artistic expressions and
aspirations of past and present artists of Black-Afrikan ancestry
in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Intersecciones Culturales:
Voces de América Latina y el Caribe
Cultural Crossroads:
Voices of Latin America and the Caribbean
Felix Angel - Joan Belmar -
Rafael Corzo - Amber Robles-Gordon
September 15 - October 15, 2010
Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 18, 5 - 8pm
The Brentwood Arts Exchange at
the Gateway Arts Center is proud to present, Intersecciones
Culturales: Voces de America Latina y el Caribe / Cultural
Crossroads: Voices from Latin America and the Caribbean, an
exhibition featuring artwork by Felix Angel, Joan Belmar,
Amber Robles-Gordon, and Rafael Corzo. Curated by Carmen Toruella-Quander,
and assisted by Ricardo Penuela-Pava, Cultural Crossroads
is a celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time
when we honor the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the
United States and celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture.
Intersecciones Culturales / Cultural Crossroads is compact,
with the intent to overload. Rafael Corzo, presenting art
in the gallery as well as the craft store, brings an ambitious
embodiment of youthful energy and freedom. Amber Robles-Gordon
exhibits dazzling wall sculptures evocative of Carnival, steeped
in the Afro-Caribbean heritage of objects imbued with symbolism
so deeply felt that even when open to intellectual interpretation,
their emotional interpretation rings clear. Joan Belmar presents
an installation of abstractions rendered with incredible precision
and care. Each creates delicate illusions of space that rest
on balance between external structure and the fluidity of
emotions. And, that's all before mentioning Felix Angel, who
lends the exhibition nine works of undeniable power. The most
established and longest experienced of this talented group,
Angel - better known in the DC region as a curator than as
an artist - brings forth refinement, eloquence, and poignance,
that are always and only the outcome of years of creation,
focus and discipline.
As a whole, Intersecciones Culturales / Cultural Crossroads
is an expansive, energetic and positive stand against any
generalization of "Latin Art". It steps in many
directions, danced in embrace with all of life - the expression
of which makes art powerful. It is not THE voice from Latin
America and the Caribbean. It is four voices, artists varied
in age and experience, creating contemporary art informed
by cultural heritage from Columbia, Chile, Puerto Rico, and
Mexico - places as distant and distinct from one another as
from here, yet bound by language and post-colonial legacy,
and by their living contribution to the fabric of our lives.
Brentwood Arts Exchange - exchanging ideas through art.
A facility of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning
Commission.
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Unforsaken, 2010, 18x24 on canvas
Jamea Richmond-Edwards and Amber Robles Gordon:
Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden Meanings
Friday September 3- Friday September 17, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Gallery at AYN Studio
in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, will present an exhibition
of collage and assemblage creations by artists Jamea Richmond-Edwards
and Amber Robles-Gordon entitled, “Pretty Things, Little
Treasures and Hidden Meanings”. The exhibition will open
on Friday September 3, 2010 with a public reception from 6:30-8:30
pm. The exhibition will remain on view by appointment until
Friday September 17, 2010.
“Pretty Things, Little Treasures and Hidden
Meanings” is inspired by the themes in their work that
convey the feminine mystique. Both women focus on their personal
stories and the roles of women in society. The “Pretty
Things” refers to the physical beauty and the sentiment
that women attribute to the things they collect and adorn
themselves with. “Little Treasures” are the intricate
details that create the narratives. The “Hidden Meanings”
are the various images and concepts that encompass the feminine
mystique, yet reproduce social norms that confine.
This exhibition is the product of an artistic
partnership and dialogue about emerging women artists. The
dialogue began about how to navigate through the art world
and challenge the notion of the individual and isolated artist.
The two artists met while working on their MFA’s at Howard
University and through their affiliation with Black Artists
of DC. They discovered commonalities in their work and decided
to partner and exhibit works focusing on womanhood.
Detroit native Jamea Richmond-Edwards studied
painting and drawing at Jackson State University.
She primarily paints women and is influenced
by childhood memories and the complex lives of the women in
her life. She has developed her own unique style of mixed
media portraiture using paper, graphite, and ink.
Amber Robles-Gordon is an artist, student, and
native of Puerto Rico. She is currently finishing her Masters
in Fine Arts at Howard University. Her medium is collage and
assemblage. She focuses on fusing found objects to convey
her own personal memories, inspired by nature, womanhood,
and her belief in recycle energy.
In a city with a changing art scene,
10-year-old organization Black Artists of D.C. fosters a community
of support and inspiration.
Amber Robles-Gordon is an African
American artist who teaches yoga and pilates, organizes art
workshops, and writes an art blog.
“[My work is] colorful, intuitive,
and abstract,” Robles-Gordon said of her art, which includes
three-dimensional pieces, collages and paper mosaics.
Robles-Gordon’s work was recently
featured in an exhibition at the D.C. Arts Center called “Black”
that focused on artists’ personal perceptions of blackness.
Her work personifies a growing black art movement in the District
that is often overlooked.
A Supportive Art Family
Since 2004, Robles-Gordon, 32,
has been active in Black Artists of D.C., a growing art organization
with about 400 members.
“I just jumped in, and at
that time there was a wonderful group, but there wasn’t
a whole lot of structure,” she said of the organization,
which elected her president in 2009.
Robles-Gordon has been a leader
in the group since she joined, curating exhibits and publicizing
the organization. She cites Black Artists of D.C. as a major
support system.
“My family’s not here,”
she said of relatives in her native Puerto Rico, “so
I was searching not only for artists; I was also searching
for family, and it was like I inherited an artistic family.”
The group, which partners with
other organizations and has strong ties to Howard University,
provides inspiration to Robles-Gordon and other members.
“Beyond what they gave me
in terms of love and support, I also learned so much,”
she said.
Read more and view interviews with
artists Amber Robles-Gordon and Michael Platt, Janell Blackmon,art
history professor at Howard University and Norman Parish owner
of the Parish Gallery in Georgetown... http://onlinejournalismworkshop.com/artists/story.html
!!!!!!!!!!!Exhibitions !!!!!!!!!!!!
Reclaiming Those Negative
Images:
Mixed Media Reflections Exhibit at The Corner Store Gallery
Amber Robles-Gordon's "Cosmic
Black 2" is one of the works on display at the Corner
Store Gallery"
Printer-friendly format
sponsored by
Reclaiming Those Negative Images
Feb. 16, 2010
By Kristin Coyner
Roll Call Staff
Oftentimes, there’s more talent under our
noses than we realize. That’s certainly true when it
comes to “Mixed Media Reflections,” a new gallery
at the Corner Store, a multiuse arts space at 900 South Carolina
Ave. SE.
Alec Simpson and Tray Patterson, both Washington
artists, are acting co-curators for the gallery. Simpson,
who often deals in abstract art, is one of 12 Washington-area
African-American artists whose works are on display.
The idea for the show started rather simply,
over a meal between Patterson and Simpson.
“We just got together over lunch one day
and decided to put on a show last fall,” Simpson said.
In light of Simpson’s own success last
year with a one-man show at the Corner Store — Simpson
sold all his small works in “Flashback/Fast Forward”
— it followed that the planners focused on small works.
“In view of what people were saying about the economy,
we just thought that maybe we’d stick with that concept,”
Simpson said.
All works at the gallery are on sale for $240
to $1,000.
“We didn’t have any idea how many
artists there would be in it, how many pieces there were going
to be, how big they were going to be, but we did know that
we didn’t want them to be priced out of the market,”
Simpson said. With the theme of Black History Month, the mixed
media motif pulls everything together.
Stepping into the front room of the Corner Store,
where the works are on display, is a treat. The front space
is warm and beautiful, with colored walls and exposed brick.
The artists’ works are accentuated by the lack of a modern
white-walled space.
As for the works, some pieces use found objects,
others use silk, some are on ceramic and still others are
on paper. One artist, Alonzo Davis, even uses bamboo poles
and fabrics.
The show is a mixture of materials and artistic
styles, but the works manage to tie to the theme of Black
History Month in a compelling way. All the artists in some
way touch on the African diaspora, from clear visual images
of brutality to parodies of mockery of black personhood to
abstract works that offer the chance to create new meaning.
Works by Aziza Gibson Hunter, “Prayers
to Haiti,” were a late addition to the show. Gibson Hunter
composed a series that incorporates elements of African cloth
and other found objects, including Haitian money, to offer
homage to the small island nation devastated by an earthquake
a month ago. Gibson Hunter intends to donate all proceeds
to Doctors Without Borders.
One wall in particular seems to deal most directly
with ancestral issues and imagery, which are most readily
visualized through Anne Bouie’s “Ancestry 5,”
“Ancestry 6” and “Ancestry 8.” Bouie incorporates
Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom figures but creates new meaning
with the images.
And that, to Simpson, underscores a driving
theme of the entire show. “It’s a matter of transformation,
transforming it into something different and new,” he
said. “It’s about seeing new things in what wasn’t
necessarily good.”
Patterson added: “It’s also reclaiming
it. Reclaiming a negative stereotype that was out there to
turn it.”
The breadth of artistic techniques that individual
artists have perfected is another striking aspect of the show.
For example, artist Juliette Madison uses mixed media clay
pieces by transferring images onto clay using ink that she
created.
Madison’s “Lord Why” displays
the technique with a veritable gut punch. The work shows the
archival photograph of a lynched woman who, along with her
son, was accused of theft. The significance of the story is
made clear with the phrase “Lord why is my seed in the
wind?” emblazoned on top of the image.
“African-American artists don’t feel
backed into a corner,” Simpson said. “They create
and let the chips fall where they may. There’s an authenticity
to what you see.”
The exhibit, which opened Feb. 5, will run until
the 28th. The Corner Store doubles as an art space and home
to Kris Swanson, a sculptor who for the past eight years has
welcomed any variety of art events into her home, including
author readings, CD release parties and theatrical performances.
Because the space functions as a home, the Corner
Store isn’t open for regular hours. However, Swanson
makes appointments at webmaster@cornerstorearts.org or 202-544-5807.
The Corner Store Gallery
900 South Carolina Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 544-5807
Metro: Within 2 blocks of the Eastern Market
Station
Orange and Blue Lines
Colorblind/Colorsight
Exhibition Dates: November 9 – December
5, 2009
Opening Reception: Tuesday November 10, 2009 8-9pm
Washington, DC American University is pleased
to present Colorblind/Colorsight, curated by A.U. MFA candidate
Rachel Sitkin and featuring the work of area MFA candidates
Yumi Hogan, Hedieh J. Ilchi, Amber Robles-Gordon, Mekbib Gerbertsadik,
Beverly Paul, Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle and recent MFA graduate
Matthew Owen Wead.
Colorblind/Colorsight looks at the diverse practices
of these seven emerging artists who deal with issues of gender,
race and ethnicity. In conjunction with the American University
2009 Fall Colloquium series, Beyond the Binary: Race-ing Art,
this exhibition examines what it means to identify as an “ethnic”
artist in a “post-racial” America.
Please join us for a panel discussion with Howardina
Pindell, Sanford Biggers, Jiha Moon, Galo Moncayo and Isabel
Manalo followed by a reception for Colorblind/Colorsight on
Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
Panel Discussion: 6-8pm in the Abramson Recital
Hall Gallery Reception: 8-9pm in the Rotunda Gallery free
American University Katzen Art Center 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington, DC 20016
African
American Art Alive in the District
www.artomatic.org
Featuring
the C-Wire Piece on 2nd floor