Dana Robinson, "The Three Sirens"
Acrylic on wooden panel
18 x 24"
2022
STATEMENT
Robinson is a multidisciplinary artist addressing the topics of youth, black femme identity, ownership and nostalgia through, painting, fabric, collage and combining, reproducing and destroying vintage Black media. Their visual language uses 70’s Ebony magazines as a source material. They select stylized advertisement images that highlight the idea of upward mobility and a growing black middle class. Employing a language of humor and relaxation, the work puts viewers at ease with its accessibility. This opens up complex spaces of laughter and irony, while retaining an empathetic quality. As they rearrange these images into an airy, atomized spread of abstract and dispersed parts, they strip them of their original power to promote the consumption of products. They hack the tools given to us to achieve personal fulfillment and aim to use their new tools to envision a map of the future that preserves and honors black life.
BIO
Dana Robinson (b. Brooklyn, NY) is an artist and designer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Robinson’s practice aims to address topics of youth, Black feminine identity, ownership, and nostalgia. With a background in graphic design and a love of Black vintage media, Robinson uses her layered practice to bring the past in dialogue with the present. She has exhibited at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas State University, Fuller Rosen Gallery, 92nd Street Y, Spellerberg Projects, Kates-Ferri Projects, the Wassaic Project, A.I.R. Gallery, Haul Gallery, and Regular Normal.
Acrylic on wooden panel
18 x 24"
2022
STATEMENT
Robinson is a multidisciplinary artist addressing the topics of youth, black femme identity, ownership and nostalgia through, painting, fabric, collage and combining, reproducing and destroying vintage Black media. Their visual language uses 70’s Ebony magazines as a source material. They select stylized advertisement images that highlight the idea of upward mobility and a growing black middle class. Employing a language of humor and relaxation, the work puts viewers at ease with its accessibility. This opens up complex spaces of laughter and irony, while retaining an empathetic quality. As they rearrange these images into an airy, atomized spread of abstract and dispersed parts, they strip them of their original power to promote the consumption of products. They hack the tools given to us to achieve personal fulfillment and aim to use their new tools to envision a map of the future that preserves and honors black life.
BIO
Dana Robinson (b. Brooklyn, NY) is an artist and designer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Robinson’s practice aims to address topics of youth, Black feminine identity, ownership, and nostalgia. With a background in graphic design and a love of Black vintage media, Robinson uses her layered practice to bring the past in dialogue with the present. She has exhibited at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas State University, Fuller Rosen Gallery, 92nd Street Y, Spellerberg Projects, Kates-Ferri Projects, the Wassaic Project, A.I.R. Gallery, Haul Gallery, and Regular Normal.
Acrylic on wooden panel
18 x 24"
2022
STATEMENT
Robinson is a multidisciplinary artist addressing the topics of youth, black femme identity, ownership and nostalgia through, painting, fabric, collage and combining, reproducing and destroying vintage Black media. Their visual language uses 70’s Ebony magazines as a source material. They select stylized advertisement images that highlight the idea of upward mobility and a growing black middle class. Employing a language of humor and relaxation, the work puts viewers at ease with its accessibility. This opens up complex spaces of laughter and irony, while retaining an empathetic quality. As they rearrange these images into an airy, atomized spread of abstract and dispersed parts, they strip them of their original power to promote the consumption of products. They hack the tools given to us to achieve personal fulfillment and aim to use their new tools to envision a map of the future that preserves and honors black life.
BIO
Dana Robinson (b. Brooklyn, NY) is an artist and designer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Robinson’s practice aims to address topics of youth, Black feminine identity, ownership, and nostalgia. With a background in graphic design and a love of Black vintage media, Robinson uses her layered practice to bring the past in dialogue with the present. She has exhibited at Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas State University, Fuller Rosen Gallery, 92nd Street Y, Spellerberg Projects, Kates-Ferri Projects, the Wassaic Project, A.I.R. Gallery, Haul Gallery, and Regular Normal.