Deborah Roberts (visual artist)
Deborah Roberts | |
---|---|
Born | 1962 (age 58–59) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | University of North Texas(BFA), Syracuse University(MFA) |
Known for | Contemporary art, Painting, Collage |
Deborah Roberts (born 1962) is an American contemporary artist living and working in Austin, Texas. Consisting primarily of mixed media collage, Roberts’s work takes on the subject of otherness as understood against the backdrop of existing societal norms of race and beauty. Since graduating with an MFA from Syracuse University in 2014, she has exhibited widely. Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; SF MOMA, San Francisco, California; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.[1][2]
Work[]
Roberts’s work challenges the existing notion of a universal beauty, arguing instead for a more inclusive and subjective understanding of visual culture. By combining found and manipulated images with hand drawn and painted details, Roberts leverages the artistic practice of collage to uplift and dimensionalize her subjects, often taking the form of young girls and, more increasingly, Black boys. The boys and girls who populate her work, while invariably bound to the complicated the problematic narratives defining American, African American and art history, are, at the same time, free and able to forge their own paths and form their own identities. [3]
She is currently represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, CA.[4]
Selected Solo Exhibitions[]
2021
The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
I’m, The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX and MCA Denver, Denver, CO
2019
If they come, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Native sons: Many thousands gone, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Fragile but Fixable, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Uninterrupted, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi, Spelman College Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta, GA
2017
Untitled, Solo Booth Art Fair Miami Basel, Miami Beach, FL
in-gé-nue, Fort Gansevoort Gallery, New York, NY
Nobody’s Darling: New Works by Deborah Roberts, Christian-Green Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
2016
Coil, Coarse, Twist, Re-twist, Art Palace, Houston, TX
2014
One and Many, Art Palace, Houston, TX
Domestic Disturbance, Diverse Art Gallery, Austin, TX
Consensual Marks, South Dallas Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
2013
When We Just Existed, Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY
2011
Resistance Begins at Home: Rethinking Otherness, South Dallas Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
2008
Forks and Spoons, South Dallas Cultural Center, Dallas, TX
2006
Bearing Witness, Stone Metal Press, San Antonio, TX
Reconstructing, Rethinking, Reacting, O’Kane Gallery, Houston, TX
2004
Chicago Culture Center (South Shore) Chicago, IL
Center for African & African American Studies, Austin, TX
Selected Group Exhibitions[]
2019
Re/Devaluing Colorism: Intersections of Skin Color and Currency, Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX
The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC
Melissa Cody, Bethany Collins, and Deborah Roberts: Heritage, Rebecca Camacho Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Charles White and the Legacy of the Figure: Celebrating the Gordon Gift, Art Galleries at Black Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Cut and Paste | 400 Years of Collage, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK
Get Up, Stand Up Now — Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House, London, UK
Seeing Now, 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, OK
Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Still I Rise, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA
2018
Talisman In The Age Of Difference, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
In the Eye of the Beholder, Tarble Arts Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, SC
Go Figure, Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH
Soul Recordings, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Reclamation! Pan-African from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute to Barkley L. Hendricks, MassArt Museum, Boston, MA
Constructing Identity in America (1766-2017), Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Sidelined, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY
2017
Fictions, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Your Body is a Battleground, Volta Art Fair, New York, NY
March Madness, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY
2016
I know why the caged bird sings, Carver Museum, Austin, TX
2015
Gently Fried, Mexican American Cultural Center, Austin, TX
The House on Mango Street, National Mexican American Museum, Chicago, IL
2014
The Way Out — MFA, Rogue Space, New York, NY
2013
Gender Is A Kind of Doing, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Art Galleries, San Francisco, CA
2011
Viewing Program, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
Miráme: 21st century portraits for Latino/a America, La Raza Galería Posada, Sacramento, CA
2009
Women of Color, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA
Her Stories, Park School, Baltimore, MD
2007
Taking Possession, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
Counter Intuitive, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL
2006
Uncle Tom to Peeping Tom, Union Art Gallery, University of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Boundless, Perceptions from Within, DAC, Austin, TX
2005
Juried Exhibition, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
Juried Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Subjective Visions, University of Texas San Antonio, San Antonio, TX
Figure It Out, Art Palace, Austin, TX
2004
Susan Woodson Gallery, Chicago, IL
Unmasked: A Collective Statement on Beauty, Butridge Gallery, Austin, TX
2003
Bird Juried Exhibition, Concordia University, Austin, TX
Our Heritage – Creating New Legacies, Juried Exhibition, Butridge Gallery, Austin, TX
Juried Exhibition, Austin Bergstrom International Airport, Austin, TX
2002
Center for African American Studies, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Collections[]
Roberts's work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York; MCA Denver, Denver, Colorado; Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia; LACMA, Los Angeles, California; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, among various other institutions.[5]
References[]
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (April 14, 2020). "A Dream Deferred, for Now". New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Whitney Museum of American Art Artists: Deborah Roberts 1962–". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "Deborah Roberts Has Exhibited Art Worldwide. She Hasn't Had a Solo Museum Show in Her Hometown—Until Now". Texas Monthly. January 14, 2021.
- ^ "Deborah Roberts". Deborah Roberts.
- ^ Sargent, Antwaun (March 6, 2018). "The Artist Changing the Face of Black Girlhood". Vice. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
External links[]
- 1962 births
- Living people
- Artists from Austin, Texas
- University of North Texas alumni
- Syracuse University alumni
- Collage artists
- American contemporary artists