Second Honeymoon, Dana Robinson

Saturday, April 2, 2022 12:00 PM 12:00
Sunday, May 8, 2022 5:00 PM 17:00

Fuller Rosen Gallery 1928 Northwest Lovejoy Street Portland, OR, 97209 United States (map)

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Fuller Rosen Gallery is thrilled to announce Second Honeymoon, a solo exhibition of new and recent work by Dana Robinson on view April 02 - May 08, 2022.

In-person opening reception on Saturday, April 02 from 6-8 pm.

Featuring fourteen dyed silks and an accompanying audio work, Second Honeymoon invites audiences to navigate a layered landscape of sight, sound and re-imagination. Responding to the gallery space, Second Honeymoon challenges viewers with context and placement; no image is presented static or singular and audio is played in six minute intervals. Audiences must dedicate time and silence in order to discover the true breadth of the exhibition.

Robinson’s work in Second Honeymoon uses humor, color, and abstraction to transform commercial-based images into painted works on silk. Nostalgia is expertly wielded by Robinson whose work re-sculpts the past—imagery is selected from her personal collection of Ebony magazines from the 1970s and 1980s—to create contemporary visions of liberation and joy. Robinson’s process of transference creates smudged, blurry and compressed visages of Black middle class life.

From a family enjoying Coca Cola in Coke Adds Life to women modeling hair care and beauty products, Black archetypes are given the room to breathe and flow. By allowing the outlined figures to bleed out into their own organic forms, Robinson liberates the models from their previous brand context. The ability to permeate and spread is heard throughout the gallery in The Bells of my Grandma. Robinson carefully documented her grandmother’s bell collection with photographs and sound recordings and made them available online; enabling audiences access to a private experience once off limits to even Robinson herself. Each bell from the collection rings out in the gallery space once every six minutes reminding audiences of the passing time and the space their bodies occupy.

From the artist—

The work in Second Honeymoon is about a refusal to be static, or defined by a clarity where a white background is the optimal way of viewing the work. No matter what the background is, the space that contains the work becomes an inseparable part of the work itself. It interrogates the space and the viewers desire to see, where and how we view work is not done in a vacuum, neutral does not exist.

The color in these works are an inseparable part of the silk. Using dye, there is a permanence, and stern boldness to the works even as the transparency of the material may threaten to make the image disappear into its surrounding as the light changes in a sunlit room. The hyper visibility and the complete willingness to ignore me is something that I am playing with in this work.

My identity as Black brings me into the forefront especially since in many spaces
I am in, I am the one, or one of the few. As a woman I am expected to fade into the background to be overly flexible and agreeable. I oscillate between these expectations/experiences.

With this work, I play with the viewer’s desire to clearly see the work. Just as I want to be seen in the world as fully human, but in many situations it’s something I am not allowed to have, I will not allow them to see the work as a single image, they will have to view the work with the layers of the space that it’s contained within.

Bells are a way of punctuating time and creating space. They also bring attention to people in need, and situations happening in the physical and mental landscapes of our lives. The period of time that a bell is ringing brings a moment of reflection before action.

To ring the bells of my grandmother is a privilege and a way for me to honor and care for her. As a Black woman, I am creating space for myself and bringing attention to people like me. A space for us to reflect on our pasts, present and future. And to bring awareness to the way our bodies fill the room and the value of all our different bodies in it.

This exhibition is funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council

Dana Robinson (b. 1990, Brooklyn, NY, she/her/they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist raised in St. Petersburg, FL and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She earned her BFA in Design from Florida State University in 2012 and her MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2019. Robinson has amassed a vast body of work throughout her career, utilizing a variety of materials such as fabric, paint, vintage ephemera and other found objects to investigate questions of Blackness, womanhood and ownership.

Robinson’s work has been published in Vice, Ain’t-Bad, NY Mag’s Vulture, and It’s Nice That. Since 2008, she has exhibited work in more than 70 shows across the United States and abroad. Most recently, Robinson was exhibited in Future Fair at Selenas Mountain in Queens, NY along with the Last Supper at LatchKey Gallery in Soho. Robinson was an artist in residence at Stoneleaf Retreat in 2021 and the Wassaic Project in 2022.

Fuller Rosen Gallery was founded in 2018 by artists EM Fuller (she/her) and BriAnna Rosen (she/her) as a collaborative curatorial project. The gallery exhibits regional, national and international emerging artists who address urgent, contemporary issues. Fuller Rosen Gallery is located at 1928 NW Lovejoy St. in Portland, OR and is ADA accessible. The gallery is open Thursday - Sunday from 12 to 5 PM and by appointment.

COVID-19 Guidelines: Please do not visit the gallery if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, have been in contact with someone who is experiencing symptoms, and/or has tested positive for COVID-19.