"BLK & BLUE" 2018
Blk & Blue explores the topic of mental illness in communities of color. Roberts’ work often spotlights contemporary social issues: by breaking down formal elements in his paintings, the artist creates compositions, which convey the complexities and tensions typically masked by his subjects’ physical appearance. Inspired by Picasso’s Blue Period, for this exhibition, Roberts represents the everyday misfortunes of the oppressed in a palette primarily composed of blues and grays. Like Picasso’s somber depictions of middle-class Spaniards upended by the Industrial Revolution, in this exhibition, Roberts ennobles his subjects while shining light on the societal conditions responsible for their hardship. In so doing, the artist presents a new, American iconography for a country ever-defined by color.
For Blk & Blue the artist will present equal numbers of portrait and landscape paintings, relating environment to four major mental health issues plaguing black and brown communities: PTSD, anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. In furtherance of this concept, the artist will create an augmented reality component for each work in the show. By holding the gallery’s iPad up to one of Roberts’ paintings visitors will be able to observe the unseen. By scanning landscapes, visitors will see the artist’s interpretation of the untold histories, undrawn borders, and invisible shackles, which perpetuate institutional racism across America today. By hovering over Roberts’ portraits, his subject’s inner world begins to appear, revealing the detrimental effects such adverse environments can have on mental health.
Opening night, curator Frantz “JR” Juin will be recording live interviews with volunteers open to sharing their experience of the show in the artist’s studio (located behind the gallery). That evening, Roberts will also unveil an accompanying soundscape designed in collaboration with producer Ja1da, which features music inspired by the works in Blk and Blue. Each work in the exhibition, corresponds to a song on the album. To hear exhibition soundtrack, please find the album on Spotify here.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
“For this show, I wanted to focus on the topic of mental illness in communities of color. It’s an ongoing conversation that started a few years ago and has been getting a bit more notoriety lately. But I find the conversation that’s being had is often about the stigma associated with the topic rather than the sources. I’m more interested in looking at the sources.
The environmental factors that cause and perpetuate mental illness effect black and brown communities at a disproportionate rate to white communities. Every day, black people in America face conditions like food deserts, banking deserts, limited access to health care….the results of redlining, the criminalization of certain drugs, and the racism embedded in the criminal justice system. Environments that cause illnesses like anxiety, depression, PTSD, and bipolar disorder – these are our landscapes.
In my last show at ABXY [Stolen] I used more celebrities and icons as subjects because I felt that it made the subject matter more relatable. With Blk & Blue I chose to explore another topical conversation; but the subjects in this show are not the subjects you see in the news…They aren’t specific individuals or incidents either. They are ideas of people and situations that I’ve seen over and over throughout my life.
There’s a scene of a kid stealing food from a market because he can’t eat. Another of someone getting jumped in front of a corner store. A worried mother. A young fellow who’s seen some things Another young man, a bit older, who’s seen a little bit more, he’s more hardened. I wanted to memorialize these archetypes you might see in a black neighborhood. That’s why I made the portraits so statuesque. At the same time, I want my subjects to tell their stories through their eyes and faces.
With the landscapes, I want to convey the regularity of these scenes in black life and spotlight the trauma they inflict. That’s why, in many of these pieces, there’s only one light source and a lot of darkness. I spent time looking at Caravaggio’s work. I also studied Picasso, of course. Plus Goya, Van Dyke, and Bacon for this show. And a lot of Moorish paintings. Renaissance and Baroque art don’t include many black people. But Moorish art gives some perspective on what a black person might look like around the same time.
I believe in art as a mechanism for political change. It’s always been a driving force. Art has forged political and cultural evolution all over the world for hundreds, if not thousands of years. That’s inspiring to me. My work often touches on social issues that have affected me or the people in my community. This show is no different. What I see is the point of me painting.”
- Malik Roberts, 2018
