AMBER ROBLES-GORDON reviewed by Renee Royale for #supportblackart

A huge and enthusiastic Thank You to #supportblackart and writer Renee Royale for her thoughtful and valued review: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON: THE FINE ART OF INTROSPECTION AND EXTROSPECTION

 

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON: THE FINE ART OF INTROSPECTION AND EXTROSPECTION

MAY 16, 2018

Exhibited at not one but two DC galleries, Amber Robles-Gordon is a captivating artist whose intricate, analytical work lends thought to how we as humans perceive our world, and our place in it.

Her works at her solo show at Morton Fine Art gallery, “Third Eye Open”, on display until May 20th, are an insightful introspective to an “internal conversation about the interconnectedness of human life”, and involves sacred geometry, self exploration, transit timing variation, and the expanse of the universe.

Amber Robles-Gordon, Third Eye Open. 2018

Ink drawing and Collage.

Her work is multilayered; upon first glance there is an overall image presented of cellular circles that contain significant amounts of patterned dark matter, or space, and then heavily layered nuclei that are brightly colored with strategically placed materials giving balance to the form. Then, upon closer inspection, one discovers tiny details, be they altering textures or hand drawn ink strokes, all seamlessly weaving their individualities into the cohesiveness of the piece. Her art is steeped in duality and the connection to divine feminine, an examination of what femininity means and how it is viewed in relationship to the masculine. Her spirals are comprised of bits of lace, portion of a blouse, lanyard reminiscent of childhood art endeavors, and other found materials that represent the realm of womanhood. The pieces spiral, reminiscent of kundalini energy, further enhanced by the subtle abstract snakes that are strategically woven into the tapestries.

Amber Robles Gordon, Kepler 19-c, 2018
36×36 in., mixed media on canvas
Courtesy of the artist

It is representational of the connectivity of all things: how we all come from dark, feminine energy, our lives a long spiral of events as we complete rotations up our axis and revolve around each other. Some pieces are complements by smaller rotational pieces, mimicking a planet that has many moons. One piece in particular, Kepler 19-c, alluding to the extra solar planet that was discovered due to the variation of transition of a previous exo-planet, Kepler 19-b. Disrupted data led scientists to discover the planet Kepler 19-c, whose gravitational pull had just enough force on the other planet to cause the variation and thus revealing itself. Galaxies and new planets are being formed every day, in this cyclical thing called life that we are just tiny specks in. As the saying goes, one drop has many ripples, and Robles-Gordon’s work exemplifies this.

Amber Robles-Gordon, Kepler 19-b Super Earth, 2018
36 x 36 in., mixed media on canvas
Courtesy of the artist

One thing that was also noted at Morton Fine Art was the connectivity and understanding held by the founder and chief curator, Amy Morton. Her respect and understanding of the work, and the care she undertakes to accurately represent her artists, is something of note and puts MFA on a tier above many galleries existing today. It is highly suggested to stay connected to MFA via their website and mailing list. They represent an exemplary roster of artists, especially artists of color, that are on the rise and are creating phenomenal art.

The artist and her work, Morton Fine Art Gallery. 2018

Robles-Gordon is also in a group show at Hemphill Fine Arts, titled “More or Less” that runs through June 9th. Her piece in that show, “International Realms”, explores her experiences as an Afrolatina navigating a patriarchal society. A paper collage on canvas, which is rectangular as opposed to her solo show’s circular works, from afar looks like a linear, abstract layering of a sunset and land. Up close, each layer has their own elements and color schemes that interact and coexist with each other. Filled with celestial bodies, textures of nature, flora, fauna, and of course, humans, the canvas contains reflective dualities hidden in the works that are only noticed upon intricate inspection. This creates an interesting balance that is interjected by long white bamboo-like stalks that span across the piece, giving the impression of one peeking into another world.

Amber Robles-Gordon, Interdimensional Realms

Paper Collage on Canvas, 2017

Amber Robles-Gordon is a DC native who is not just an artist but also an arts advocate and educator, creating and also giving back to her city. Check out more of her work at her website, amberroblesgordon.com.

Morton Fine Art is located at 1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts), Washington, DC 20009. “Third Eye Open” has been extended until May 20th. Hours are Tues-Sat: 11am – 6pm; Sun: 12pm – 5pm; Mon: by appointment.

Hemphill Fine Arts is located at 1515 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20005. “More or Less” runs through June 9th. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10am-5pm, or by appointment.

 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AVAILABLE ARTWORK BY AMBER ROBLES-GORDON.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT #SUPPORTBLACKART.

KESHA BRUCE’s “Sacred Liberation” at Waaw Residency, Saint-Louis, Senegal

Enjoy these photos of KESHA BRUCE’s opening reception for “Sacred Liberation” during her Waaw Residency in Senegal in May 2018. Among many new sources of inspiration, Kesha’s fascination with the baobab tree became magically obsessive. The artist describes:

“The Baobab is the national tree of Senegal. I’d never heard of it until @kasiazudou sent me a picture of one that’s been carbon dated to be more than 6000 years old. I saw my first Baobab on my drive to Saint-Louis. They are absolutely eerie and otherworldly. I later found out they’re both feared and venerated for their magical abilities. I’ve been obsessed ever since.
Almost every tribe has a legend about the Baobab. In ancient times elders and community leaders would hold meetings under the baobabs so that the ancestors and spirits who live in the Baobab would guide them to make wise decisions.
And until recently, Griots, living historians who are keepers of historical records across generations, were buried inside Baobab trees.”

ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY and “In Print” in Daily Press

Entertainment Galleries and Museums

New prints reinvent old medium on giant scale in Portsmouth

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center stages rare exhibit of contemporary prints that reinvent the ancient medium on a giant scale. — Mark St. John Erickson

Mark St. John Erickson

Contact Reporter At a Glance

If rare is the word when it comes to noteworthy exhibits of period prints, scarcer still are shows of contemporary printmaking.

Nearly two decades have passed since the last substantial example unfolded anywhere close to Hampton Roads — and for that you had to drive to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.

But in a year made remarkable by not just one, but two impressive displays of 17th-century prints at the Peninsula Fine Art Center in Newport News — including three dozen etchings by Rembrandt — fans of this seldom-seen medium are getting a great bonus.

Curated by Gayle Paul of the Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center, “In Print” features scores of works you may not associate with the mostly small, deliberately intimate prints of the past — and that’s because the regional and nationally known artists who made them used new tools and hugely expanded scale to reinvent them.

“My Grandmother’s Camoisole,” by Domenica Webb of Chesapeake, is one of about 60 works by 10 artists on view at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center through May 28 in “In Print.” (Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center / HANDOUT)

“This exhibit is about artists who create the image as an original print, then see it through the entire printmaking process,” Paul said.

“And they’re using advanced and improved printmaking technology to create works you couldn’t make just a few years ago.”

A year in the making, “In Print” explores works by numerous Hampton Roads and Virginia artists, as well as talents from Ohio, Tennessee and the West Coast.

Unexpected scale is a defining characteristic of the collection here, where your eyes may pop and your breath be taken away by the sheer size and ambition of such pieces as a 14-foot-tall installation by Washington artist Nicole Pietrantoni.

Cascading down from the wall just a foot shy of the gallery’s high ceilings, five hand-bound accordion-style books unfurl into the air and fall to the floor, their synchronized pages forming a huge vertical view of ocean swells rumbling in from a distant horizon toward the viewer.

Dark clouds trace ominous patterns in the sky overhead, while barely submerged rocks lurk just below the frothy surface.

Passages of words pour down the pages in fragments, riding the currents with the menacing conclusions of a climate change and water report.

“The scale is just spectacular,” Paul says, describing a work so large it nudges you back on you heels if you get too close.

“And it creates this giant image that’s not just seen but felt.”

That impact is made all the more striking by the much smaller, even intimate scale of “Precipitous” before it was unpacked.

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center stages rare exhibit of contemporary prints that reinvent the ancient medium on a giant scale. — Mark St. John Erickson

“It arrived in an Office Depot box maybe 16-by-20-by-16 inches in size,” Paul said, “yet it expanded into this huge piece measuring 6 feet wide and 14 feet high.”

Even bigger and more muscular is “Black Ice,” a 20-foot-wide Arctic landscape engraved, painted and assembled by Alexandria artist Rosemary Feit Covey.

Though her “Gingko” and “Fish” images are substantially smaller, the same curious combination of elvish craftsmanship and robust size makes you stop to look — and if you do it closely you will find hundreds if not thousands of small wood engravings that have been pulled through a press, cut out and then collaged into complex and arresting images.

“Wood engraving is a very old process,” Paul said, “but this is an entirely new way to do it.”

Old Dominion University artist Domenica Webb takes a similar tack with her oversize cyanotype prints, using an early photographic medium and direct printing to make otherworldly images of veils, dresses and blouses once worn by Webb or various family members.

Burned into the blue paper with sunlight, some images are then embellished with pins, stitching and buttons, too, adding the presence of the artist’s hand to these ethereal surrogates of her childhood and family.

“They’re beautiful,” Paul says, “and very personal.”

“In Print”

Where: Portsmouth Art and Cultural Center, 1846 Courthouse, 400 High St., Portsmouth.

When: Through May 28.

Cost: $3 adults, $2 children ages 2-17.

Info: 757-393-8543 or portsmouthartcenter.com.

Click here to view these featured and available pieces by ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY. Please contact Morton Fine Art for pricing and details. 

The Washington Post features MAYA FREELON and AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

In the galleries: ‘Interact + Integrate’ requires audience participation

By: Mark Jenkins

Fabric scraps and damaged tissue paper are the essential ingredients of new work now at Morton Fine Art. Those materials might sound negligible, but Amber Robles-Gordon and Maya Freelon employ them with ambition and impact.

MAYA FREELON, Bubble 2, tissue ink monoprint, 44″x 74″

Freelon’s technique began with what her statement calls a “beautiful accident”: finding colored tissue paper stained by water from a leaking pipe. From this discovery, the North Carolina artist developed a method of bleeding pigment from moistened colored tissue onto sheets of white paper, which are so thick they hang as if they’re fabric.

The larger works in “Rebirth/Rebound” were made with a pottery wheel, so the transferred hues spin with verve and grace. The dominant color is often magma-dark red, framed by black and green and white bubbles that evoke the images’ aquatic origins. The most direct print, “Suspension,” is mostly orange and yellow, which flow with the exuberance of a classic abstract-expressionist canvas. Freelon’s accident yields pictures that are assured and bold.

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, Kepler 19-b Super Earth, mixed media on paper, 36″x 36″ 

Robles-Gordon, a D.C. native, is known for hanging strands of textiles and other found objects in intricate arrangements. The pieces in her “Third Eye Open” are wall-mounted rather than suspended, and feature circular drawing-collages orbited by smaller rounded objects, some partly covered in bits of garments. The forms suggest zygotes and planets, as well as eyes, but at the heart of each of the larger circles is a leafy motif. Whether seen as cosmic or botanical, the artist’s circling compositions exalt natural cycles.

Maya Freelon: Rebirth/Rebound and Amber Robles-Gordon: Third Eye Open Through May 15 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

You can view all available artwork by these talented artists here on our website!