3 Questions Digital Series with AMBER ROBLES-GORDON – U.S. Department of State / Art in Embassies

Amber Robles-Gordon is a Puerto Rican-born, mixed media visual artist based in Washington, DC. Known for recontextualizing non-traditional materials, her assemblages, large sculptures, installations, and public artwork, in order to emphasize the essentialness of spirituality and temporality within life. Driven by the need to construct her own distinctive path, innovate, and challenge social norms, her artwork is unconventional and non-formulaic. Her creations are representational of her personal experiences and the paradoxes within the imbalance of masculine and feminine energies with our society.

Ultimately, the intention is to examine the parallels between how humanity perceives its greatest resources, men, and women versus how we treat our possessions and environment.

For over five decades, Art in Embassies (AIE) has played a leading role in U.S. public diplomacy through a focused mission of vital cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchange. The Museum of Modern Art first envisioned this global visual arts program in 1953, and President John F. Kennedy formalized it at the U.S. Department of State in 1963. Today, Art in Embassies is an official visual arts office within the U.S. Department of State, engaging over 20,000 participants globally, including artists, museums, galleries, universities, and private collectors. It encompasses over 200 venues in 189 countries.

Professional curators and registrars create and ship about 60 exhibitions per year, and since 2000, over 70 permanent collections have been installed in the Department’s diplomatic facilities throughout the world. Art in Embassies fosters U.S. relations within local communities world-wide – in the last decade, more than 100 artists have traveled to countries participating in AIE’s exchange programs and collaborated with local artists to produce works now on display in embassies and consulates. Going forward, AIE will continue to engage, educate, and inspire global audiences, showing how art can transcend national borders and build connections among peoples.

Available artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

Morton Fine Art

52 O St NW #302

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 628-2787 (call or text)

info@mortonfineart.com

mortonfineart.com

Amber Robles-Gordon discusses her series “The Temples of My Familiars”

Video by Jarrett Hendrix

“The Temples of My Familiars” series is about the intersections between my identity, the diverse visual languages in my artwork and the narratives they reference. The title is most definitely borrowed from the 1989 Alice Walker novel, The Temple of My Familiar. A womanist narrative about several women of color and their evolutionary process to know self, their identity and their struggle for happiness within a patriarchal society. However, I chose the title because of the distinct visual reference my sculptural geometric-like renderings took on once I inverted them. They became temples, a place of spiritual practice and sacrifice in which I could place my familiars —my visual languages. A place where they could be re-rooted, re-formulated, and take on a new life.

Being an artist has facilitated a very specific type of data collection, visual documentation, analysis and a vast array of methods of self-expression and personal exploration regarding issues that concern me. During a recent journey through past work, contemplations, beginnings and endings; I encountered fragments of myself. These fragments vibrated silently, yet continuously, like piercing questions waiting to be answered. The various languages beckoned and bemoaned to be unified. Once combined, the equations gracefully revealed themselves in harmony. Each artwork, 24 x 18 in, mixed media collage, within the series begins with title “The Temples of My Familiars” and then has a distinct sub-title. -AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, 2019

Contact Morton Fine Art for available artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON.

http://www.mortonfineart.com

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

(Washington, DC b. Puerto Rico)

EDUCATION

2011 M.F.A., Howard University, Washington, D.C.

2005 B.S. in Business Administration, Trinity College, Washington, D.C.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2021 American University, Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC

2019 Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, San Juan, Puerto Rico 2018 Washington College, Chestertown, MD

2018 Third Eye Open, Morton Fine Art, Washington, D.C.

2017 At the Altar, Arts Center/Gallery Delaware State University, Dover, DE

2017 Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA

2012 Milked, Riverviews Art Space, Lynchberg, Virginia

2012 With Every Fiber of My Being, Honfleur Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2011 Milked, National League of American Penn Woman, Washington, D.C.

2011 Wired, Installation and Exhibit, Pleasant Plains Workshop, Washington, D.C.,

2010 Matrices of Transformation, Michael Platt Studio Gallery, Washington, D.C.

2007 Can You Free Me?, Ramee’ Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1997 The Artwork of A. Robles-Gordon, Dance Place Exhibition Space, Wash., D.C.

1995 The Art, The Brittany, Arlington, VA

COLLECTIONS

Judith A. Hoffberg Archive Library, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

Masterpiece Miniature Art Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Capital One Bank, McLean, VA

District of Columbia’s Art Bank, Washington, DC

Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY

The Gautier Family Collection, Washington, DC

Department of General Services, Washington, DC

Martha’s Table, Washington, DC

Democracy Fund, Washington, DC

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON’s series “Place of Breath and Birth” on view with TAFETA at 1-54

Video of AMBER ROBLES-GORDON’s latest series “Place of Breath and Birth”

Amber Robles-Gordon

Amber’s artwork is based on her personal narrative and the intersections of womanhood, patriarchy, hybridism, and Americanism.

Her intention is to further contextualize her narrative and artwork within the political, socioeconomic, and environmental threads that define, control, alienate and/or mistreat Puerto Ricans and Afro-Puerto Ricans in particular.

Place of Breath and Birth

A foundational symbology of this body of work is the Fiscus Elastica commonly known as the Rubber Tree, Rubber Fig or Rubber Plant.

The second most important symbolic layer of the work are the depictions and interpretations of the transitions of day to night and night to day.

“Throughout some of the artworks, I am a figure, a witness to the beauty and complexity of the Puerto Rican landscape”

“Ultimately, I hope this narrative and artwork gives voice to others who walk in brownness—who breathe within a female form, and/or who do not quite fit the norms…yet are Bold and Proud.”

Amber Robles-Gordon’s artwork will be presented by TAFETA at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in October 2020.

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AMBER ROBLES-GORDON’s series “Place of Breath and Birth” created in her birth country of Puerto Rico

 

Place of Breath and Birth

Series, Collage, 2020

Botánica del Amor, Autorreflexión y Espiritualidad, 18 x 24, 2020

Place of Breath and Birth

Solo Exhibition at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Background:

As my first opportunity to exhibit in the Caribbean and to deepen my relationship with my birthplace, San Juan, Puerto Rico – la Isla del Encanto (the enchanted island) – I have titled this solo exhibition at Galleria de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Place of Breath and Birth. My artwork is about my personal narrative and the intersections of womanhood, patriarchy, hybridism, and Americanism. My intention is to further contextualize my narrative and artwork within the political, socioeconomic, and environmental threads that define and are often in my opinion used to control, alienate and or mistreat Puerto Ricans in generally and Afro-Puerto Ricans in particular.

The intention of this exhibition is to empower my five-year-old self. To give her the strength to fight for herself, her language and culture. I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Arlington, Virginia. My first language was Spanish, yet at about five years old, I came home one day and told my mother: “I was not speaking Spanish anymore”. From then on, I responded to my Spanish/English speaking mother in English only. Later, I came to understand that I had surrendered my Spanish tongue—a critical part of my cultural identity— so that I could “fit” a version of myself that could possibly coincide with the prescribed box that others had for a brown-skinned girl such as myself.  Although in time, the name calling ceased, however, the micro-aggressions, insensitive questions, assumptions, and judgments about my brownness lingered. Throughout this life, time-after-time, I have had to choose to identify with my brownness/blackness over the other cultural ties that bind other Spanish speaking people with their culture.

My Caribbean family—with roots in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Antigua— has long been impacted and splintered, by the search or pursuit of education, better income, and greener pastures. As with all achievement, there are gains and losses. The fruit includes a well-educated family with greater exposure to the world and economic and social opportunities. Yet, the primary sacrifice is our distance from the thickened knotted roots of Caribbean Black and Latino heritage and culture that living at home might have provided. – AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, 2020

Visiting Puerto Rico:

In preparation for this exhibit, my mother and I spent two weeks in September 2019 Puerto Rico. My mother was returning to her childhood home and I was visiting for the first time as an adult. Since then, I have returned to PR to give an artist talk as part of Sagrado de Corazon’s visiting art program and to live in PR for extended period to produce the artwork for this exhibition.  Due to the impact of continuing earthquakes in Puerto Rico from 2019 unward and the COVID 19 epidemic, the format and focus of this artwork has shifted. On July 10, 2020, Place of Breath and Birth will be featured online by the Galleria de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón on its website at https://www.sagrado.edu/visitingartist/. Additionally, please check out the interview with myself and Norma Vila, Directora de la Galería de Sagrado at https://insagrado.sagrado.edu/las-recientes-iniciativas-de-la-galeria-de-sagrado/?fbclid=IwAR3omEVgPUlcm67lRRBbaliuhimPu6GK-PwK4toQS7CNH0y5IxsidHs9kUw to find out additional details about the residency and my experiences in Puerto Rico.

The Artwork:

Upon its completion, Place of Breath and Birth, will include ten (10) mix-media collages. This digital exhibit includes the first four collage works of the series. Included in this virtual exhibition are the following works: Botánica del Amor, Autorreflexión y Espiritualidad (Botany of Love, Self-reflection and Spirituality), La Island del Encanto (The Island of Enchantment), and Tendedero, Comunidad y Energía Eterna (Clothesline, Community and Eternal Energy). Each collage measures 18 X 24 inches and is made of acrylic paint, magazine paper, permanent ink line drawings, fabric, and other mixed media items.

A foundational symbology of this body of work is the Fiscus Elastica commonly known as the Rubber Tree, rubber fig or rubber plant.  I was introduced to the Rubber Tree while in Puerto Rico on the grounds of the Universidad de Sagrado de Corazón (University of the Sacred Heart) campus. Among its extensive botanical collection of indigenous plants of Puerto Rico; I found a large banyan tree whose broad canopy sheltered smaller versions of itself growing at its feet. This tree appeared to be a literal fusion of past, present and future state of creation or sustaining an ecosystem. In La Isla del Encanto (pictured below) and throughout this series are abstracted representations of the rubber tree– an entanglement of strong roots – as a example of its resiliency this tree most recently stood-fast to its native soil while 155 mph winds that battered the campus.

Isla del Encanta, 18 x 24, 2020

The second most important symbolic layer of the work are the depictions and interpretations of the transitions of day to night and night to day. I intentionally choose a studio and apartment on the third floor in Puerto Nuevo with three-dimensional exposure to light. I then surrounded myself with plants to create an internal garden a reflection of the thousands of “porch gardens” featured throughout PR neighborhoods. From this perch, I could see the changing environment as the light increased or waned and how the varying aspects of weather altered each day. Depending on where I stood, and the time of day, I had a virtual window into the varying socioeconomics aspects of diversity of the island. The combination of the verdant and vibrant nature of the island landscape, my internal garden and the third floor weather allowed for the feeling of creating an atmosphere.

As I progressed through researching, photographing, living and ultimately creating after the beginning of COVID 19 quarantine the cylinder abstracted rubber tree forms expanded to circular ecospheres to convey a spiritual and ethereal connections to and within my immediate environment. Throughout some of the artworks I am a figure, a witness to the beauty and complexity of the Puerto Rican landscape – tropical jungle, 1,000 of miles of carreteras, the co-mingling and isolation of three major ethnic/racial groups – Taino, the Spanish and Africans, the strangle hold of the United States and the impact of the Caribbean Sea, with its threat of hurricanes, scorching summer heat and lush landscape.

Ultimately, I hope this narrative and artwork gives voice to others who walk in brownness—who breathe within a female form, and or—- who do not quite fit the norms…yet are Bold and Proud. – AMBER ROBLES-GORDON, 2020

Tendedero, Comunidad y Energía Eterna, 18 x 24, 2020

Elemental: Tierra, Aire, Agua, Fuego, 18 x 24, 2020

Available Artwork by AMBER ROBLES-GORDON

Morton Fine Art

52 O St NW #302

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 628-2787 (call or text)

http://www.mortonfineart.com

mortonfineart@gmail.com

AMBER ROBLES-GORDON exhibiting at Sagrado University in Puerto Rico

Galería de Arte de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón

LUGAR DE ALIENTO Y NACIMIENTO

Proyecto por nuestra Artista Visitante Amber Robles Gordon

En Sagrado, el bienestar de nuestra comunidad es lo primero. Continuamos monitoreando el desarrollo de eventos relacionados con la propagación mundial del coronavirus (COVID-19). Como medida de precaución, Sagrado está implementando la práctica del distanciamiento social. Por lo tanto, la Galería de Arte permanecerá cerrada hasta nuevo aviso.

A través de los años, hemos creado una comunidad que se une para apreciar diferentes experiencias estéticas. Queremos continuar esto sin poner en riesgo a nuestros visitantes. Por lo tanto, estamos poniendo a disposición esta experiencia en línea. Entre las nuevas ofertas compartimos el trabajo de Amber Robles Gordon, quien fue nuestra artista visitante durante el semestre de otoño y, a partir de esa experiencia, ha creado nuevas obras bajo el título “Un lugar de aliento y nacimiento”.

Amber Robles-Gordon, es una artista visual de medios mixtos. Conocida por recontextualizar materiales no tradicionales, sus ensamblajes, grandes esculturas, instalaciones y obras de arte públicas, para enfatizar la esencialidad de la espiritualidad y la temporalidad dentro de la vida.

Impulsada por la necesidad de construir su propio camino distintivo, innovar y desafiar las normas sociales, su obra de arte es poco convencional y no formulada. Sus creaciones son representativas de sus experiencias personales y las paradojas dentro del desequilibrio de las energías masculinas y femeninas con nuestra sociedad. En última instancia, la intención es examinar los paralelos entre cómo la humanidad percibe sus mayores recursos, hombres y mujeres versus cómo tratamos nuestras posesiones y medio ambiente.

“Tuve la suerte de ser la artista visitante de la Galería de Arte de la Universidad Sagrado Corazón, durante este año académico. Esta oportunidad me permitiría conocer el lugar donde por primera vez respiré. Luego de mis dos visitas a Puerto Rico a finales del 2019, decidí a comienzos del 2020 alquilar un apartamento en Puerto Nuevo para comenzar a producir la serie “A Place of Breath and Birth”, pautada para presentarse al final del año académico (abril de 2020) en la Galería. Debido a los terremotos persistentes, y el riesgo que representan para la comunidad Sagrado, mi exhibición se vio pospuesta, más tarde con el inicio de la pandemia COVID-19, todo a nivel mundial se alteró y tuve que regresar a Washington D.C. Las nuevas obras producidas bajo el título Un lugar de aliento y nacimiento se trasladaron a mi plataforma en línea y formarán parte de mi exhibición individual titulada Secession, a presentarse en el Katzen Art Center de la American University. (webpage https://www.amberroblesgordon.com/place-of-breath-and-birth-exhibition-puerto-rico).

Esta sería mi primera oportunidad de exhibir en el Caribe y profundizar mi relación con mi lugar de nacimiento, Puerto Rico, (la Isla del Encanto).

Por eso había titulado la exposición, Lugar de aliento y nacimiento. Comparto con ustedes unas palabras de mi declaración de artista, la que dio origen a esta serie que todavía está ardiendo y guiando mi descubrimiento por mis orígenes todos los días.

La intención de la propuesta para una exposición individual en P.R. fue empoderar a mi yo de cinco años. Para darle la fuerza para luchar por ella misma y su lenguaje. Nací en San Juan, Puerto Rico y crecí en Arlington, Virginia. Mi primer idioma era el español, pero a los cinco años llegué un día de la escuela y le dije a mi madre: “ya no hablaré en español”. A partir de entonces, sólo respondí a mi madre que habla español e inglés en inglés. Más tarde, llegué a comprender que entregué mi lengua española, una parte crítica de mi identidad cultural, para poder “adaptarme”; a una versión de mí misma que posiblemente podría coincidir con “el molde prescrito”; que otros tenían para una niña de piel morena como yo. En ese momento, mi familia y yo vivíamos en una zona de los EE. UU. donde había pocas personas que se parecían a mí y hablaran español. Aunque con el tiempo, los insultos cesaron, las micro-agresiones, preguntas insensibles, suposiciones y juicios persistieron. A lo largo de esta vida, una y otra vez, he tenido que elegir identificarme con mi color marrón / negrura sobre los otros lazos culturales que unen a otras personas de habla hispana con su cultura. Aunque, mi narrativa personal es el foco principal de estas obras de arte, continuaré contextualizando la misma dentro de los hilos políticos, socioeconómicos y ambientales que definen y a menudo se utilizan para controlar, alienar o maltratar a los puertorriqueños en general y a los afro- puertorriqueños en particular. Además, mi obra de arte trata sobre las intersecciones de la feminidad, el patriarcado, el hibridismo y el americanismo. En última instancia, espero que esta narrativa y esta obra de arte den voz a otros que caminan en tonos marrones, que respiran dentro de una forma femenina y que no se ajustan a las normas … pero son audaces y orgullosos.

Isla Del Encanta 18 x 24 2020

Haz un click sobre las imágenes para ver una versión más grande.

Elemental: Tierra, Aire, Agua y Fuego 18 x 24 2020

Más tarde, llegué a comprender que entregué mi lengua española, una parte crítica de mi identidad cultural, para poder “adaptarme” a una versión de mí mismo que posiblemente podría coincidir con la caja prescrita que otros tenían para una niña de piel morena como yo.

En ese momento, vivíamos en el continente de los EE. UU., Y vivíamos en un área donde había pocas personas que se parecían a mí y hablaban español. Aunque con el tiempo, los insultos cesaron; Las micro-agresiones, preguntas insensibles, suposiciones y juicios persistieron. A lo largo de esta vida, una y otra vez, he tenido que elegir identificarme con mi color marrón / negrura sobre los otros lazos culturales que unen a otras personas de habla hispana con su cultura.

Tendedero Comunidad y Energía Eterna 18 x 24 2020

Aunque, mi narrativa personal será el foco principal de estas obras de arte; Continuaré contextualizando la obra de arte dentro de los hilos políticos, socioeconómicos y ambientales que definen y a menudo se utilizan para controlar, alienar o maltratar a los puertorriqueños en general y a los afro-puertorriqueños en particular. Además, mi obra de arte trata sobre las intersecciones de la feminidad, el patriarcado, el hibridismo y el americanismo. En última instancia, espero que esta narrativa y esta obra de arte den voz a otros que caminan en tonos marrones, que respiran dentro de una forma femenina y que no se ajustan a las normas … pero son audaces y orgullosos.

Botánica del Amor, Autoreflexión y Espiritualidad 18 x 24 2020