Facing Forward
An Exhibition of New Work
August 12th - October 2nd, 2021
Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Gainesville Ga.
Facing Forward is a body of work, created within the past two years by Gena Brodie Robbins, and includes multiple large-scale works in oil and a range of mixed media works, installation and video. This upcoming exhibition will be the largest solo show of her career as a working artist. “Facing Forward,” centralizes around the human condition, focusing on areas of loss, illness, isolation, memory, resilience, faith, and acceptance.
“Are You OK?”
Self- observations of the effects of having a chronic neuromuscular disorder resulted in the “Are You OK ?” Series - observational studies and reactions to facial weakness during an MG flare. These overlapping and transparent line drawings enable the viewer to see through the lens of someone with a chronic, rare disease and emphasize the day-to-day inconsistency of fatigue, feelings of disconnect, loss of identity, and state of fragmentation.
Eventually, this curiosity led to a deeper investigation into the expectations of women, the constructs of identity and beauty, and the well-being of women and girls.
In the “Are You OK?” installation, over 300 brightly painted pink balls are covered in handwritten statements by women of today and throughout history reacting to sexist or misogynistic acts. These hang at various levels throughout sections of 1 x 18-inch transparent fragments of drawings of self-portraits on vellum created using charcoal and florescent pink spray-painted dots. The installation hangs from the ceiling and casts shadows upon a video of mostly black and white clips of Brodie going through the motions (with an avant-garde twist) of the rituals many women perform to fit in the mold of the feminine. These clips are combined with clips of her working in and out of the studio.
“Are You OK?” Video
The Are You OK? Video Installation investigates the absurdities of the expectations placed on women. Brodie is seen putting on lipstick all over and outside of her lips with a very blank, unapproachable stare. She also records her best friend trying to put on and walk in high heels four sizes too small. She portrays a close-up shot of her mouth slowly smiling and then making its way back to a resting frown. Other parts of the video include vague clips of Brodie working on many of her recent works exhibited in the Facing Forward Exhibition and other bizarre clips of ambiguous forms and figurative shadows.
Resting Bitch Face Series
Through observations made of her facial expressions while experiencing an MG flair, Brodie also developed a curiosity with the history of the cultural expectations and perceptions of women, public persona, and how those who portray an “unapproachable” expression are perceived in today’s society.
This curiosity led to a series of thirty-six paintings of iconic women from the past and present, expressing numerous degrees of “RBF”. Faces fill each 12 x12 inch panel, and peer through a veil of spray-painted dots, symbolizing the intrusive flashes from cameras, stage lights, and repeated colored dots found in various media
Night Terror
The Night Terror Series consists of eight bas-relief sculptures made of plaster, oil, and wax. Each piece is a cast of Brodie’s face during different times of night terrors. Moments of a scream or grimace are recorded and give the viewer a glimpse into what Brodie feels during such times of anxiety and fear. Her night terrors began while having g trouble breathing battling symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis.
In the throws of slumber, deeply I gasp, only to find the air void of the essential, and laced with a terror sure to confine the most ruthless of entities.
— Gena Brodie Robbins
Sculpture
Each sculpture is an extension of my paintings. Figurative abstract in form, embellished with bold marks and painted with expressive drips and bold color.
Various bodies of work either express a sense of discord or tension or reveal a place of contemplation or search for balance and inner resolve.
Works range from abstract figurative forms constructed of plaster and painted with oil and wax or ink and polymers, to more conceptual works made of found objects that are site-specific and include the structural qualities of the floor and ceiling.
Paintings
The dynamic and colorful paintings in the Facing Forward Exhibition range in scale and medium. Many are large-scale, reaching up to ten feet by eight feet in size, and are created using thick pours and application of polymers, acrylics, ink, and oil. Other smaller works combine oil with thickly applied encaustic wax scraped and scratched revealing a history of decision making and application. Repetitive imagery such as circles, spray-painted florescent dots, and tally marks are also found throughout the picture plane, indicative of the fleeting elements and measurements of time. Figures ranging from human to animal investigate existence and impermanence and the resilience found deep within needed to reach states of transcendence, healing, acceptance, and resolve.
