WHAT IS THIS NATION’S HISTORY OF VALUING LIFE? THE LIFE OF ANIMALS, CHILDREN, AND PEOPLE OF COLOR?
Read MoreLEFT: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON. RIGHT: DETAIL OF MONTGOMERY BRAWL. PHOTO CREDIT: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON AND JARRETT HENDRIX.
Morton Fine Art
Deconstructing Surely, she (he/we) is a little animal? Panel Discussion
Surely, she (he/we) is a little animal? is a chronological visual exploration of the cross generational and long term impact of imperialism and colonialism. In each of the six mixed media on wood panel works Robles-Gordon begins with the transatlantic slave trade and leads the viewer on a panoramic sweep contemplating the modern-day systems and infrastructures that continue to uplift colonialism and imperialism.
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Amber Robles-Gordon: Surely, she (he/we) is a little animal? - artplugged.co.uk
Who/what is worthy of care? Who cares for the defenseless? Who/what is defended? Incorporating the transdisciplinary study of human ecology into her practice and scope, Robles-Gordon uses the field as an anchor in her expansive investigations of race, history, the sciences and culture. The resulting new body of work rigorously explores colonialism and imperialism, global anti-blackness, child welfare and animal cruelty. Finding them all connected, just not equally, the exhibition exposes frank contradictions in American perceptions of human life, animal life and minority lives.
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Amber Robles-Gordon continúa con exposición en Washington D.C. - Periódico El Adoquín
Al encontrarlos todos conectados, pero no por igual, Amber Robles-Gordon vincula visualmente las historias y desarrollos de los movimientos estadounidenses de protección infantil y bienestar animal con los derechos civiles y las luchas en curso por la libertad.
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CREATING A NEW WHOLE
IA&A at Hillyer presents Pulse 2023, an exhibition that recognizes the role of Hillyer’s Advisory Committee in identifying artists for solo and group exhibitions at Hillyer’s renowned contemporary art space. The exhibition features work by some of Hillyer’s past notable members such as Helen Frederick, Renée Stout, and Tom Wolff, and current members, Joan Belmar, Nikki Brugnoli, Anna U Davis, Elsabe Dixon, Cianne Fragione, Pat Goslee, Laurel Lukaszewski, Cory Oberndorfer, John Paradiso, and Amber Robles-Gordon.
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Art in Embassies Program: 3 Questions Digital Series with Amber Robles-Gordon →
An interview from Art in Embassies 3 Questions Digital Series with Amber Robles-Gordon, who speaks about her creative process and artwork at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Abuja, Nigeria.
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Solo exhibit featuring Amber Robles-Gordon opens at WC's Kohl Gallery
in exhibit
Material-isms: The Cultivation of Womanhood and Agency Through Materiality
CHESTERTOWN — The Kohl Gallery at Washington College kicks off the 2018-19 academic year with a solo exhibit "Material-isms: the cultivation of womanhood and agency through materiality," featuring Washington, D.C.-based mixed-media artist Amber Robles-Gordon.
The exhibit features assemblage and installation works created from a range of found objects and textiles.
Opening on Thursday, Sept. 6, with a public reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., "Material-isms" will run through Oct. 10. Robles-Gordon will also deliver a public talk in the gallery at 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13.
According to a news release, Robles-Gordon’s artistic practice draws upon the often-paradoxical experiences of her gender, ethnicity and social and cultural influences, including her Latino, African and Caribbean heritage.
The release states, what the artist calls “hybridism” is reflected in her varied material strategies and vibrant use of color, often invoking a spiritual and energetic sensibility.
“Materials intrigue me, but colors uplift and excite me,” Robles-Gordon said in a 2017 interview with Bmore Art Magazine.
"Material-isms" will highlight Robles-Gordon’s spirited use of a bold color palette in a series of mixed-media and installation works that conjure themes of femininity and masculinity, duality, spirituality and the natural and cultural environment.
Robles-Gordon earned her Masters in Fine Arts from Howard University and has more than 15 years of experience as a practicing artist, curator and arts educator.
Her work has been reviewed or featured in The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, ebony.com, The Miami Herald, Bmore Art Magazine, Support Black Art and Callaloo: Art and Culture in the African Diaspora, among other publications.
Robles-Gordon’s work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and in Germany, Italy, Malaysia, London and Spain. She has created temporary and public installations for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association, Howard University, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Washington Project for the Arts, Salisbury University and Martha’s Table.
In 2012, Robles-Gordon was selected for Under the Influence, in association with the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s 30 Americans exhibit. As an arts advocate, Robles-Gordon has served the Washington, D.C. regional arts community as an active member of Black Artists DC, serving as exhibitions coordinator, vice president, and president. She is also the co-founder of Delusions of Grandeur Artist Collective.
Kohl Gallery is located on the first floor of the Gibson Center for the Arts at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. For more information, email: kohl_gallery@washcoll.edu.
Third Eye Open Solo Exhibition Catalog Statement by Kimberli Gant, PhD
in article
“…an Earth alive in my consciousness as a living crystal being whose etheric geometric skeleton could be mapped in its patterns of energy flows…in ocean currents, the winds, river systems, and distributions of precious minerals. It seemed to me that ancient humans had known this sacred, hidden body of Earth and had settled on it in ways that took advantage of very visceral powers of place.”
-Bethe Hagens
The Divine Feminine in Geometric Consciousness (2010)
Hagen’s quote suggests that one can map the Earth not just through national borders, but through the power of the natural environment and the sacred energy that flows through those spaces. To her geometry is not simply a tool for measuring distances or volumes of space, but a way to consider invisible sacred energies helping keep the Earth functioning as it should. Each aspect of the environment works together creating a harmonious system. Hagen’s quote also hints at the legacy of geometric symbols moving beyond practical units, into sacred objects representing notions of infiniteness, and the unity of male and female. Moreover, depictions of spheres, circles, triangles, and their three-dimensional counterparts have used in rituals by numerous cultures spanning the world from ancient times into the present day…
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"Interdimensional Realms" by Amber Robles-Gordon
At Hemphill Fine Arts, The Past, Present, and Future of Abstraction
"MORE or LESS" showcases how D.C.'s affinity for Abstraction has always been a part of its artistic DNA.
by KRISTON CAPPS, Washington City Paper
MAY 24, 2018 11 AM
Process-based abstraction has always been a staple of painting in D.C. The Washington Color School was built by artists who defined their work by their approach to the canvas, whether by staining it or draping it or something else. MORE or LESS, a group show on view at Hemphill Fine Arts, shows how new trends in contemporary painting continue to line up with the work that put D.C. on the map in the 1960s and ’70s.
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Synchronous Dialogue, Bloom and Orbits, Installation, Mixed-Media, 2018
Keep a Third Eye Open for Amber Robles-Gordon's Newest Show
in review
By Lyric Prince, www.sugarcanemagazine.com
Morton Fine Art, a gallery that is off to the side of the U Street Corridor in Washington D.C., fills in a niche for vibrant artists of color that are pushing boundaries and expectations on art and its potential. Mixed-media installation artist Amber Robles-Gordon's solo exhibition Third Eye Open, which closes on May 20th, was comprised of 8 assemblages produced in 2018, and presented the meeting between the physical world and the intuition of human experience. The chosen forms of the show – circles and ovum – alluded to the ongoing cycle of inserting and patterning elements for self-discovery, incubation, and introspection. Throughout, Robles-Gordon explored abstract art's potential for demonstrating spiritual growth and emotional connection on a metaphorically cosmic scale – where the rules of time and gravity fall to the wayside.
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Kepler 19 c Super Earth and Orbit, Installation, Mixed-Media, 2018
AMBER ROBLES-GORDON: THE FINE ART OF INTROSPECTION AND EXTROSPECTION
in review
by Renee Royale, www.supportblackart.com
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.
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Maya Freelon’s “Bubble 2,” on view at Morton Fine Art. (Maya Freelon/Morton Fine Art)
Freelon & Robles-Gordon
in review
by Mark Jenkins, Washington Post
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.
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.
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Third Eye Open, Solo Exhibition at Morton Fine Arts
in exhibit
Third Eye Open, represents an internal conversation about the inter-connectedness of human life, from the infinitesimal individual to the expanse in which our universe exists and operates within - yet there are laws of physics, and highly shared beliefs and practices that hinge or bind us together…
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Awakening the Matrilineal: Calling in the West, mixed media on canvas, 36" x 36"
Artist Introduction: AMBER ROBLES-GORDON
in exhibit
Morton Fine Art is thrilled to introduce artist AMBER ROBLES GORDON to our roster.
"My artwork is a visual representation of my hybridism: a fusion of my gender, ethnicity, cultural, and social experiences. I impose colors, imagery, and materials that evoke femininity and tranquility with the intent of transcending or balancing a specific form. I associate working with light, color, and energy as a positive means to focus on the healing power found in the creative process and within us all. It is my belief that colors have both feminine and masculine energies and each color represents a specific aspect of nature."
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