Successions: Traversing US Colonialism
Series, Mixed Media Collaged Quilts, 2021
Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, Front/Political View, American University Museum, 2021
Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, Rear/Spiritual View, American University Museum, 2021
Amber Robles-Gordon presents Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, a solo exhibition on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, August 28 - December 12, 2021. Successions is a conceptual juxtaposition that celebrates abstraction as an art form while leveraging it as a tool to interrogate past and current US policies within its federal district (Washington, DC) and territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) that it controls. By highlighting nuances related to US governance in its federal districts and territories, Robles-Gordon seeks to question who has access to resources, citizenship, and the right to sovereignty.
Robles-Gordon creates artwork imbued with a layered visual language replete with cultural signifiers and abstract gestures. Successions is a celebration of abstraction as an artistic expression. Robles-Gordon utilizes iconic artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, and members of the Washington Color School as vivid reference points for her own dynamic use of color, form, and material within the works she created for the exhibition. These explorations will provide insights into a number of inquiries that undergird the construction of the exhibition. Successions creates a pathway towards discursive criticism around issues impacting marginalized communities oppressed by the United States’ hegemonic domestic and foreign policies.
The exhibition features two bodies of artwork, Place of Breath and Birth, consists of 10, 18 x 24 in. mixed media collages on canvas works and Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, includes 7, 83 x 89 in., double sided, mixed media, assemblaged quilts. The colorful abstract paintings, collages, and quilts were created in 2020 and 2021 between San Juan, Puerto Rico (Robles-Gordon’s birthplace) and Washington, DC (where she currently lives). By deconstructing the flag and or the seal of each territory, the front of each quilt reflects interpretations of political, socio-economic, environmental, and racial implications and factors that impact each territory. Through the use of sacred geometry-like mark making the back of each quilt focuses on the cultural and spiritual aspects of each territory and our collective humanity.
DC Political, Welcome to the District of Colonialism, Front, Mixed media on quilt, 90 x 86 in., 2021, Courtesy of the artist.
DC Spiritual, Native American, Back, Mixed Media on Quilt, 86 in. x 90 in., 2021
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robles-Gordon’s creative strategies were directly impacted as a result of sheltering in place in San Juan. The lack of access to materials and arduous circumstances she was confronted with in Puerto Rico and upon returning to Washington, DC catalyzed Robles-Gordon to improvise her approach to making works for the exhibition. Moreover, the experience heightened her awareness of how communities on the margin are adversely treated during moments of crisis.
Robles-Gordon’s also uses works featured in Successions to mine the stories, personal narratives, and aesthetics of the women of the Caribbean, particularly of African descent in an effort to investigate the political, socio-economic, and environmental implications of placemaking, contemporary colonial policy, and notions of citizenship on these social groups. The debate over DC statehood, similar to Puerto Rico, has been a prevalent point of contention in the District but rarely featured in the national conversation. Robles-Gordon seeks to use her “backyard” as a metaphor that would expand our understanding of notions of freedom, liberty, and justice.
A fully illustrated catalog with essays by Ossei-Mensah and Noel Anderson and in-person and virtual programs will accompany the exhibition, enriching the viewer’s experience. Click this link to view the Successions: Traversing US Colonialism Catalog.
Learn more: https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/2021/successions.cfm
Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, Mixed Media Quilts
USVI Political, Front. Mixed media on quilt, 90 x 86 in., (Left), 2021
USVI Spiritual, Back, Moko Jumbie: Walk Tall and Heal Forward, 2021. Mixed media on quilt, 90 x 86 in., (Right)
Puerto Rico Political II, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Left)
Puerto Rico Spiritual II, Back, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Right)
Northern Mariana Islands, Political, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Left)
Northern Mariana Islands, Spiritual, Back, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Right)
American Samoa Political, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Left)
American Samoa Spiritual, Back, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Right)
Guam Political, (Front) Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., (Left)
Guam Spiritual, (Back) Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., (Right)
When All Is Well, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2020, (Left) SOLD
When All Is Well/ The Hawk, Back, Mixed Media on Quilt, 90 in. x 104 in., 2021, (Left) SOLD
Press
Nashvillescene: Amber Robles-Gordon’s Polemic Quilts Balance Form and Content, SoveREIGNty: Acts, Forms, and Measures of Protest and Resistance is currently on view at Tinney Contemporary
The Philly Art Blog: Amber Robles-Gordon’s anti-colonial quilts and personal histories at American University Museum at the Katzen Center
Bmore Art: Amber Robles-Gordon’s Geographies of Care
Culture Type: From California to Chicago, Tennessee to Maine, 15 of Summer’s
Best Museum Exhibitions Remain on View This Fall
Hyperallergic: The Liminal Space of Identity for Residents of US Territories
St. John Source: “Successions: Traversing U.S. Colonialism” on Exhibit at American University Museum
Washington Post: In the galleries: Artist’s works criss-cross the paths of U.S. colonialism
Puerto Rico Black Art Blog: https://puertoricoblackart.blogspot.com/2021/10/la-afropuertorriquena-amber-robles.html?m=1
National Museum of Women in the, Arts Art Fix News Letter: https://nmwa.org/blog/art-fix-friday/art-fix-friday-december-10-2021/
Bmore Art: https://bmoreart.com/2021/11/bmorearts-picks-november-2-8.html
About the Artist
Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media visual artist of Puerto Rican and West Indian heritage. She is known for her commissioned temporary and permanent public art installations for numerous government agencies, institutions, universities, and art fairs.
Robles-Gordon has over twenty years of experience exhibiting and in art education, commissioned critiques, lectures, teaching, and exhibition coordination. She received a BS in business administration from Trinity University and an MFA in painting from Howard University, Washington, DC. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Germany, Italy, Malaysia, England, and Spain. Robles-Gordon has participated in residencies in Costa Rica, Washington, DC, and at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. Her artwork has been reviewed and featured in numerous magazines, journals, newspapers, and online publications.
Most recently, she held an online solo exhibition at Galeria de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was featured by Tafeta Gallery in the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, England, and during London Art Week. In 2022, she will create a traveling exhibition in collaboration with Cultural DC and El Cuadrado Gris Galeria in Puerto Rico.
About the Curator
Larry Ossei-Mensah uses contemporary art as a vehicle to redefine how we see ourselves and the world around us. A Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic, Ossei-Mensah has organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and nonprofit spaces around the globe from New York City to Rome, featuring artists including Firelei Baez, Allison Janae Hamilton, Brendan Fernades, Ebony G. Patterson, Modou Dieng, Glenn Kaino, Joiri Minaya and Stanley Whitney. Moreover, Ossei-Mensah has actively documented cultural happenings featuring the most dynamic visual artists working today, including Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Federico Solmi, and Kehinde Wiley.
A native of The Bronx, Ossei-Mensah is also the co-founder of ARTNOIR, a 501(c)(3) and global collective of culturalists who design multimodal experiences aimed to engage this generation’s dynamic and diverse creative class. ARTNOIR endeavors to celebrate the artistry and creativity of Black and Brown artists around the world via virtual and in-person experiences. Ossei-Mensah was a contributor to the first-ever Ghanaian Pavilion for the 2019 Venice Biennial with an essay on the work of visual artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.
Ossei-Mensah is the former Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at MOCAD in Detroit and currently serves as Curator-at-Large at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where he curated the New York Times heralded exhibition Let Free Ring and A Return: Liberation as Power respectively.
Ossei-Mensah has been profiled in publications including the New York Times, Artsy, and Cultured Magazine, and was recently named to Artnet’s 2020 Innovator List. Follow him on Instagram at @larryosseimensah and Twitter at @youngglobal.
Gallery Talks
Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah and Artist Amber Robles-Gordon
Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah and artist Amber Robles-Gordon chat about Robles-Gordon's solo exhibition, "Successions: Traversing US Colonialism" ahead of the exhibition's opening. On view through December 12, 2021.
Learn more about Successions: Traversing US Colonialism https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/2021/successions.cfm
DC Artist Amber Robles-Gordon talks "Successions: Traversing US Colonialism" with curator Larry Ossei-Mensah. . "Successions" is a conceptual juxtaposition that celebrates abstraction as an art form while leveraging it as a tool to interrogate past and current US policies within its federal district (Washington, DC) and territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) that it controls.
On view through December 12, 2021.
Learn more and plan your visit: https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/2021/successions.cfm
A Successions conversation with Daniel Immerwahr, the author of How to Hide An Empire
This candid conversation featured Daniel Immerwahr, author of "How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States" and visual artist Amber Robles-Gordon. They spoke regarding the threads of intersection between his book and her current solo exhibition at the American University Museum, "Successions: Traversing US Colonialism." The talk illuminated the historical underpinnings of US colonialism, Americanism, institutional racism, anti-Blackness, and their immeasurable impact in the US territories.
Millenium Arts Salon & AU Museum: A Conversation between Amber Robles-Gordon & Dr. Tuliza Fleming
On November 13, 2021 the Millennium Arts Salon provided a salon talk featuring Artist Amber Robles-Gordon in an interview with Interim Chief Curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dr. Tuliza Fleming, at the American University Museum. Ms. Robles-Gordon, who was born in Puerto Rico, and raised in the DC area, examines the role of the United States as a colonial power with both Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as two such colonies, with intimations of paternalism, tyranny, and containment of citizen aspiration attendant thereto. Dr. Fleming as scholar, will guide our better understanding of Amber's magnum opus, as she explores the underpinnings of the artwork from conceptualization to execution. Millennium Arts Salon honors our relationship with the Katzen Arts Center in bringing programs of importance to our joint and several audiences in their beautiful and monumental space.
AU Professorial Lecturer Andrew Wasserman, PhD and Visual artist Amber-Robles-Gordon
Bridging Ties: Like Lavender is to Purple
AU Professorial Lecturer Andrew Wasserman, PhD and visual artist Amber-Robles-Gordon discussed her exhibition "Successions: Traversing US Colonialism," on view in fall 2021. This virtual discussion explored the Womanist/Feminist nature and symbolic threads featured throughout Robles-Gordon's exhibition.