The Story Behind Delusions of Grandeur

The Washington Post

By Michael O’Sullivan

“You have to be delusional to want to be an artist,” says Amber Robles-Gordon, who, with Shaunte Gates and Jamea Richmond-Edwards, debuted as the art collective Delusions of Grandeur with two back-to-back exhibitions in the summer of 2011. Originally funded by a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the group has expanded to five members with the addition of Wesley Clark and Stanley Squirewell.

As tough as it is for anyone to make it as an artist, Robles-Gordon says it can be tougher for artists of color. It’s also tough, she believes, for artists struggling to balance careers and parenthood. (Several members of the group have young children.)

Having first come together as a kind of art salon, with the goal of fostering dialogue among its members, the collective has now set its sights on somewhat loftier goals. Its name may be tongue-in-cheek, but Robles-Gordon admits that “we do want to be in the history books.” 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/exhibits/no-strings-attached,1245339/critic-review.html

WETA Around Town

Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme at the Phillips Collection through September 9, 2012. Discussion with Robert Aubry Davis, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Bill Dunlap.

Join the circle of prominent art, theater and film critics who make WETA Around Town your one source for the latest Washington-area reviews and recommendations.

WETA Around Town video segments are broadcast on TV 26 in between programs, nightly prior to the 7:00 pm program, and weeknights prior to Charlie Rose.

You can also subscribe to the WETA Around Town podcast and automatically receive the latest reviews each week. Or watch anytime online by clicking on a video below or visiting our video portal. www.weta.org/tv/local/aroundtown

40 under 40: Craft Futures at the Renwick Gallery through February 2013 Discussion with Robert Aubry Davis, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Bill Dunlap.

#MyDeanwood: Honoring the Past to Create the Future

The Washington Post

‘#MyDeanwood’

Patchwork is the operative mode — and metaphor — in “#myDeanwood: Honoring the Past to Create the Future,” a survey of art chosen to reflect Northeast Washington. There are other media in this small show, but most of the pieces are assemblages. Journalist and artist Esther Iverem makes quilted collages with historical elements, both personal and cultural; she sometimes invokes Oya, the Yoruba spirit of communication with ancestors. Sherry Burton Ways’s dolls are constructed of sticks, fabric, paper and what appears to be human hair; mounted atop strips of patterned fabric, these totemic figures evoke layers of history. Most interesting is Amber Robles-Gordon’s “Matrixes of Transformation” series, which does indeed transform her colorful fabric combinations by photographing them. These 2-D images have a strong sense of depth, but by focusing on details, they offer a more direct way to see Robles-Gordon’s tangled work.

#myDeanwood

DeanwoodxDesign ArtPlace Temporium

on view through Aug. 31 at the Tuban-Mahan Gallery, the Center for Green Urbanism, 3938 Benning Rd. NE. www.deanwoodxdesign.com

Jenkins is a freelance writer.

Continue Reading ...http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/

Beyond the Big Chair New galleries and community spaces pop up east of the river

Washington’s newest arts enclave isn’t tucked away in Georgetown, or even on burgeoning H Street. It’s east of the river, in Anacostia. The area — once known as Nacotchtank, after the first Native American settlers of the region — has a long history of creative expression. Go-go music was born here; graffiti by street artists such as BK Adams (the man behind all those I AM ART wheatpasted posters around the city) dot the walls of buildings. But unlike Shaw, with its recently reopened Howard Theatre, or H Street, anchored by the refurbished , Anacostia has lacked the arts infrastructure to draw visitors.

That is changing. In the past five years or so, a handful of small-but-vibrant galleries have sprung up, complemented by a smattering of new public art pieces and festivals celebrating a homegrown arts scene. LUMEN8Anacostia, a wide-ranging fest that ran over three months this spring, brought dozens of artists, performers and temporary arts spaces together and received encouraging media coverage.

“Anacostia is emerging as a cultural hub,” says Josef Palermo, who works with the Pink Line Project, a group that organizes events promoting local arts across D.C. Palermo moved to Anacostia in 2008. “At the time, there were not a lot of restaurants, really no nightlife to speak of,” he recalls. “Now, a revitalization is taking place.”

That energy comes, in part, from a flurry of investment by groups such as the ARCH Development Corporation. The organization, founded in 1991 to help the area’s homeless, has increasingly put resources into local arts to infuse new life into the neighborhood. It sponsors three closely clustered galleries — Honfleur Gallery, Vivid Solutions and Blank Space SE — along with HIVE, a shared workspace for freelancers. “We want to draw on local and international resources,” says Phil Hutinet, chief operating officer of ARCH. “We want to showcase what will really become the future arts district of the city.”

That means highlighting works by artists such as Amber Robles-Gordon, a sculptor and mixed-media artist. Robles-Gordon has lived in Anacostia for 15 years. “For me, there’s an energy that I get from the area,” she says. When she paints on her porch, children scurry up and ask what she’s doing. Every once in awhile, she scours her neighborhood for old fliers and scrap paper, pieces she recycles into her own work.

Not long ago, Robles-Gordon — who’s shown at several international galleries — had to travel to Northwest or even into Maryland to show her work locally and connect with other artists. With galleries such as Honfleur as an anchor, that’s shifting. “Now, more of us know about each other,” she says. “You have a working-class group of people more like a creative class. It’s about us coming together and finding each other.”

Behind the Scenes at the Anacostia Community Museum Though the Anacostia Community Museum is undergoing renovations until July 29, it is still offering public programs — such as a behind-the-scenes tour. Guides will focus on the 45-year-old museum’s evolving role in the community.

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum

1901 Fort Place SE;

July 13, 10 a.m.,

free; 202-633-4820

(Anacostia)

Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River The creative history of Anacostia gets spotlighted at this year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival with a full schedule of events. African dancers and drummers, church choirs, hip-hop artists and go-go bands will perform, and storytellers will tell neighborhood tales. Tattoo artists will demonstrate their craft, as will members of a multigenerational quilting guild. National Mall; through July 8, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., free; 202-633-1000, Festival.si.edu. (Smithsonian)

Public Art East of the River Walking Tour Explore the history of Anacostia’s public and street art with Deidra Bell, as she leads a walking tour of neighborhood gems includ-ing Martha Jackson-Jarvis’ river-themed mosaics and Uzikee Nelson’s quirky metal sculptures, left. Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Place, SE; July 10, 10 a.m., free; 202-633-4820. (Anacostia)

Inside Outside The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with more than 5 million Americans in prison. In Washington, the numbers are even more stark: Three out of four young black men will serve time in prison. Artist Gabriela Bulisova, whose work is pictured below, chronicles the experience of the incarcerated through photography. The Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE; July 13-Sept. 28, free; 202-365-8392. (Anacostia)

East of the River Exhibit From July 13 through Sept. 8, Honfleur Gallery will host its sixth annual local juried show, a great primer to the neighborhood’s hottest artists — with key pieces that explore the neighborhood’s social, environmental and historical challenges.

Honfleur Gallery

1241 Good Hope Road SE

Washington, DC 20020

July 13-Sept. 8,

free; 202-365-8392.

(Anacostia)

Every Fiber Counts ‘Art Beat’ With Sean Rameswaram

(March 28-April 27)

Every Fiber Counts

With Every Fiber of My Being is showing through late April at Honfleur Gallery in Southeast. Local artist Amber Robles-Gordon shares dozens of dream catcher-shaped sculptures made from repurposed clothing and other recycled materials. 

With Every Fiber of My Being (solo exhibition)

Honfleur Gallery

1241 Good Hope Rd SE,

Washington, DC 20020

http://wamu.org/story/12/03/28/art_beat_with_sean_rameswaram_mar_28/

https://www.amberroblesgordon.com/with-every-fiber-of-my-being-2012-public-art-installation

Honfleur Gallery Presents

With Every Fiber of My Being

by Amber Robles-Gordon

MARCH 9 – APRIL 27 2012

Exhibition Concept:

The phrase With Every Fiber of My Being captures the energy I bring to my creative process, my artwork, and how I relate to life.  Fibers, are everywhere in the body, they work in intricately bounded bundles to funnel and connect the life force with information and nutrients that sustain a fully functioning organism1.

I create with every fiber of my being, because I have to and because it brings me joy. Starting at the bundles of axons within my brain, to every hair fiber and through the nerves of my muscles, a network of fibers precisely distributed throughout wants to see, smell, hear, taste, and create, art.  

In this series, I am interested in creating a visual representation of the pieces that make up the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional aspects that make one human. I use personal items: parts of old purses, jeans, jackets, and jewelry. As well as stamps, post cards, and old cd cover artwork. Most of these things will be recognizable at first glance. Although, I hope that some items won’t be, at least at first. My intent is show the process of creating and exploring the layers of one’s self, one fiber at time. Then to notice a bundle, and then to see, and identify the life source that flow within each piece of art. Ultimately to the view the whole body artwork as living, breathing organisms.  

With Every Fiber of my Being refers to my overall beliefs that creating art is a means of promoting healing. Creating textile work is a very precise and time-consuming task: Every tile, piece of paper, cloth, or stitch of thread must be properly placed in order to craft the intended compacted mosaic of information. Hence, there are very few visual resting points with in a portion of these works. This is intentional, because when do the fibers of our being ever rest.

I will present a body of mixed media on canvas and sculptural textile works. The majority of the artwork will be a combination of found objects and other fiber products sewn or adhered to canvas. Additional works will be sculptural mixed media on canvas forms and mixed media on other found objects.

Honfleur Gallery

1241 Good Hope Road SE

Washington DC 20020

202-365-8392

 arts@archdc.org

Hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-5 · Saturdays 11-5

And by appointment

http://www.honfleurgallery.com/

www.amberroblesgordon.com

Fibers, Filaments, and Fragments:

Amber Robles-Gordon and the Deconstruction of Self

By Jessica N. Bel

The power of a fiber rests within the nature of its unitary value. The interconnectivity of fibers creates a whole, an object that comes into existence because of the unification of its parts. Memory, personhood, and identity are conflated with the materiality of our things- our fashions, our gadgets, the products we buy, the things we keep and the detritus we discard. Our sense of “being” can be discovered with a thorough examination of what we leave behind. What we value, things we remember, in the modern world, material culture is the conduit to the self. In the meticulously rendered textile and mixed media sculptures of the exhibition “With Every Fiber of My Being”, artist Amber Robles-Gordon destabilizes the power of the fiber in its familiar context of object-hood, by restructuring the parameters with which the viewers come to understand it; fibers and filaments transform into representations of a deeper sense of one’s personal memory and self-constituted identity.

The intentional fragmentation of an object conveys an act of disjuncture- a ripping apart, a shredding of, a tearing up- of familiarity, of stability, of normality. So, what happens when this disjuncture becomes a repetitive act of labor in self-rendering? Binaries explode. Polarization’s collide. Linear understandings of histories become a painterly, disjointed pointillism. Robles-Gordon destabilizes the specificity of our “stuff”- lace adorned dresses, rackets, worn t-shirts, beaded bracelets, badminton balls, etc.- and threads together a reformed sense of self through abstracted amalgamations of material culture. In Air, Water, and Earth. Layers of Self, Robles-Gordon’s mixed media sculpture reshapes disparate parts and fragments into lines of color that coalesce in a circular form. Principles of abstraction are still at play in this sculptural entanglement. Excised from objects disjoined from their past modalities, filaments function as undulating lines of color across the picture plane. Grid-like wires attempt to contain the rotund mass, creating a vivid, precarious sense of tension and fragility. It is in this moment of contained visual clutter and chaos, in which power is reassigned and the accepted meaning or constitution of object-hood is simultaneously bifurcated into its past and re-situated at the limen- a space of betweenness where agency flourishes and categories collapse.

The condition of the postmodern and millennial artist is also situated at the liminal space of particularity, where sampling and fragmentation meet at the axis of hybridity. Furthermore, contemporary practitioners like Egypt-born, New York-based Ghada Amer, as well as South African artists Nicholas Hlobo and Nandipha Mntambo, have taken to the act of immolating textiles and objects to reconstruct notions of gender, sexuality, and personal identity. Through tedious and laborious acts of puncture, stitching, and re-binding fragments, the artist could possibly regain control of representation and the deconstruction of self vis-à-vis the destruction of object-hood. In short, the artist can reconstitute the self through reassigning the meaning and function of parts of things ripped apart and ruptured.  This new modality and materiality relies upon the vocabulary of fibers and filaments strung and threaded along to chart new spaces of visual memory and selfhood.Jessica N. Bell

http://www.jessicanbell.com/

30 Americans: Under the Influence

Thursday, November 17, 2011, 6-9 p.m.

Frances and Armand Hammer Auditorium

Corcoran Gallery of Art

View fullsize

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-Edwards, and Amber Robles-Gordon

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.

Admission is FREE Pre-registration is encouraged.

Presented by the Corcoran Contemporaries and Washington Project for the Arts

‘Options 2011’ combines minimal and conceptual art

By Mark Jenkins

Washington Post

For its 30th annual survey exhibition, “Options 2011,” the Washington Project for the Arts has temporarily claimed a floor of an industrial building near the Convention Center. The space gives the show — curated by Arlington Arts Center Executive Director Stefanie Fedor — room for large, dramatic pieces, as well as the expected painting, photography and video. The work ranges from computer animation and fabric art — including Amber Robles-Gordon’s third gallery showcase of the last six months — to issues of Bittersweet, a new magazine that covers social issues of non-federal D.C.

Many of the 13 artists combine the minimal and the conceptual. John James Anderson combines sculpture made from lumber, nails, screws and carpentry tools, with commentary about hiring immigrant day laborers to work with him. Stewart Watson impales pillows with steel rods to make site-specific, anxiety-ridden “events.” Lisa Dillin’s photographs and sculptures coolly parody corporate environments and mindsets. Heather Boaz renders the commonplace eerie by photographing toy furniture posed on or near body parts such as eyes and knees, as well as less commonly displayed ones.

Among the show’s most engaging work are monumental pieces that mock artistic monumentality. Artemis Herber is showing shell-like forms that look to be made of rusted steel, evoking the sculptural colossuses of Richard Serra and Anthony Caro, along with pillars whose shapes are modeled on fallen trees (although they’re painted a shade of green that’s more redolent of celery than forests). But Herber’s work is made of cardboard; that rusty patina is paint.

Jimmy Miracle also uses inexpensive materials, including plastic carryout food containers. For “Beam,” he stretches filament from wall to floor to simulate a gleaming shaft of light. Like Herber’s “trees,” Miracle’s pieces give everyday stuff a pretense to glory. 

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/options-2011-combines-minimal-and-conceptual-art/2011/10/12/gIQA24UPiL_story.html

‘Delusions of Grandeur’

The Washington Post

One link between the three young, local artists featured in “Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension” is African American identity. Another is fabric. Amber Robles-Gordon (whose work was reviewed by The Post in July) makes abstract hanging assemblages that feature ribbons and scraps. Jamea Richmond-Edwards does idealized portraits that incorporate textiles, sequins and bows. Shaunte Gates includes bits of cloth and other found materials in allegorical paintings that draw on the tradition of biblically themed medieval and Renaissance canvases, but also sometimes suggest the heroic poses of sci-fi and comic-book characters.

The artists chose the exhibition’s title, and in a statement explain that it refers to “the ‘delusions of grandeur’ that each artist possesses in order to continue progressing . . . in their artwork.” The “ascension” part comes from one of Gates’s paintings, which depict muscular men who are both divine and debased, as likely to sprout wings as to wear to a crown of barbed wire. His figures are rendered realistically, as are some of his settings, notably the urban alley shown in “January 6, 1956: Time Traveler.” But other backdrops are wilder, sometimes verging on abstract expressionism. “May 28, 2004: Lost One” shows a man plunging into a loosely rendered whirlpool, as if diving into the picture plane itself.

Richmond-Edwards’s work is more formal. Faces, penciled in shades of gray, combine African American features with the somber bearing of Greco-Roman sculpture. Many of the countenances are identical, giving the work a paper-doll quality. These visages are surrounded by bright colors and patterns, and adorned with a rose-petal print in various colors. If the result seems a little too fashion-schooled, clothing is a part of cultural identity. Playing dress-up is one way that people define, or redefine, themselves.

Jenkins is a freelance writer.

Artists:

Amber Robles-Gordon

Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Shaunte Gates

Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension on view through Sept. 16 at Parish Gallery-Georgetown,

1054 31st St. NW, 202-944-2310, 

Washington, DC

www.parishgallery.com.www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/photos-reach-deep-into-go-gos-pocket/2011/08/31/gIQAAaq6uJ_story_1.html

Delusions of Grandeur: Ascension

Press Release

View fullsize

Shaunté Gates, In my dreams II, 2011

Amber Robles-Gordon, Peacock. 2011

Jamea Richmond-Edwards, Revealation, 2011

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.

Artists:

Shaunté Gates

Amber Robles-Gordon

Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Exhibition Dates: August 19- September12, 2011

Opening Reception: August 19, 2011 6-8pm

Parish Gallery

1054 31 Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20007

www.parishgallery.com

Young black professionals: The new face of gentrification

Washington Post

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.

View fullsize

Amber Robles-Gordon works in the living room of her Anacostia home. Gordon earned an Master of Fine Arts degree from Howard University.

View fullsize

In addition to making art, Gordon teaches yoga at Anacostia’s Spirit Anacostia Health and Wellness Center. Her commute to work is 10 minutes.

View fullsize

Amber Robles-Gordon displays her work at the Pleasant Plains Workshop, a shared studio space on Georgia Avenue.

Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post

Click here for the full article