Kenya (Robinson)

Last updated
Kenya (Robinson)
Born1977
Landstuhl, Germany
Nationality American
Education Los Angeles Trade Technical College

Yale University

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Known for Visual art, installation art, sculpture, performance

Kenya (Robinson) (born 1977) is an American multimedia artist whose work includes performance, sculpture and installation. [1] Raised in Gainesville, Florida, (Robinson)'s work depicts themes of privilege and consumerism, exploring perceptions of gender, race and ability. [2] Combining a variety of audio-visual elements and live performance, (Robinson)'s work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, and the 60 Wall Street Gallery of Deutsche Bank. She has lectured at Hampshire College, Long Island University, and the University of Florida. [3]

Contents

An established blogger and Arts and Culture contributor to the Huffington Post, (Robinson), who chooses to have her last name placed in parentheses, documents her work on her Instagram account kenya9. [4] She earned her MFA in Sculpture from the School of Art at Yale University in 2013. [2]

Early life and education

Born in Landstuhl, Germany, in 1977, (Robinson) grew up and attended schools in Gainesville, Florida, including Lincoln Middle School, Gainesville High School and the University of Florida. [3] [5] Her father worked in the military and (Robinson) has described her mother as being a "great beauty and bibliophile." [2]

In 2001, (Robinson) enrolled in the apparel design and production program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College where she earned an associate degree. [6] After working for a few years as a freelance fashion designer in both Los Angeles and New York, (Robinson) began working as a studio assistant for visual artist Mike Cloud. [2] In 2009 (Robinson) began the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's WorkSpace Residency, allowing her to focus on her burgeoning multi-media artistic practice. [1] It is also during this time that she started her blog, which has documented her life and work from 2009 to present. In 2011, despite not having a bachelor's degree, (Robinson) began her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. [6] The artist has had this to say of her decision to attend the Ivy League institution:

A part of my attraction to Yale, beyond the art program, is that it is a place of privilege. Particularly male, white, western privilege. As a black person living in this country, that fascinates me. I wanted this environment to influence my thinking— everything that could be challenged was challenged: my gender, my sexual orientation, my race, class, and even my age. I feel like I've thought more deeply about those aspects of myself in ways I hadn't before. [2]

(Robinson)'s mother passed away during her first month of her MFA at Yale, an event which the artist states greatly influenced her time there. [2]

In 2011 (Robinson) was the subject of the short form documentary "I Have The Right" by Jenny Lam. [6]

Works

2008-2010

From her earliest major pieces, (Robinson) engaged with a variety of mediums and subjects. In 2008, the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts in Brooklyn, NY, featured her work in a solo exhibition, entitled "HAIRPOLITIC: The Pursuit of Nappiness'. The exhibition, in exploring contemporary perspectives on hair, "addressed the unwritten rules and politics of culture and how they affect what we consider beautiful." [7] Two years later, (Robinson) produced a variation of HAIRPOLITIC as a solo exhibition at the Thomas Center in her hometown of Gainesville. [5] This exhibition, "HAIRPOLITIC: Pomade in America," featured some work from her earlier exhibit, but also incorporated new multimedia. [8]

In addition to these solo displays, (Robinson)'s work appeared in a number of group exhibitions during this time in New York and New Jersey. She also had a number of performance art pieces featured in notable venues, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Wall Street Gallery, Recess Activities, and the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts. [3]

2011-2012

In 2011, (Robinson)'s work was featured in a third solo exhibition at a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, entitled "All Over the Place." [9] While her visual work was also featured in a number of group exhibitions in New York, 2011 and 2012 saw (Robinson) engage in an increasing number of major performance art pieces.

Her work,"kenya eats a cracker," at the Kitchen, featured the artist eating a variety of cracker brands in a yellow raincoat. Her piece prompted praise from at least one critic. Andrew Russeth wrote that "(Robinson) seems wonderfully out of touch with the times," by ignoring the trend among performance artists to showcase the "glorification of long-term suffering ... or the celebration of middlebrow interactivity." [10] Russeth went on to write that (Robinson) "twists the codes that govern our basic needs — shelter and food — in ambiguous ways and pushes them toward the precarious point when they may break." [10]

The Inflatable Mattress

From February 1 - May 3, 2011, (Robinson) conducted a "13-week-long performance piece, in which she offered herself up as a guest (10 hours of housework included, but the host must supply the toothpaste) to anyone who would have her." [1] Robinson traveled with an inflatable mattress as well as "appropriate linens and towels." [11] Her proposal was sent out by e-mail to artist colleagues in Manhattan and Brooklyn. [1]

(Robinson) documented her interactions with her hosts and her reflections on the experience on a blog, including movie recommendations, required readings, and a log of the toothpaste used at each residence.

The project was detailed by the New York Times in the piece "The Serial Sleepover Artist," by Penelope Green. [1]

2013-present

Recent years have seen (Robinson)'s work continue to be featured in exhibitions in New York City, but her performative work has also taken her to other parts of the country, including Maine, Nebraska and the US Virgin Islands. [3]

Her sculpture "Commemorative Headdress of Her Journey Beyond Heaven" is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture [12]

An installation of several works won the 2018 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art at the Orlando Museum of Art. Alex Rich wrote "Kenya's work is important. It takes a novel and memorable approach to the perennial, historical, and — sadly even here in 2018 — still too relevant theme of white straight male privilege. Any viewer who takes the time to engage with her work will be left reconceptualizing his or her own place in that hierarchy of gender and race and in the fitful journey toward inclusiveness." [13]

CHEEKY LaSHAE

CHEEKY LaSHAE, described as a "fluid-identity karaoke singer," is a performance art piece which (Robinson) began in 2013 following the completion of her MFA. [14] A reaction to the feeling of being "forced into a box" by her education, CHEEKY consists of a costume, worn by both (Robinson) and rotating audience members, in which one's face is entirely masked by a box like shape that leaves only the lower half of the body uncovered. [6] [14] CHEEKY's emphasis on audience participation in her "Karaoke Universal" shows stems from (Robinson)'s belief that "everyone, even the spotlight-phobic, is a performer." [15] "Whether you're performing femininity, masculinity, shyness, or extroversion, all of our movements in a social space are performative in nature, whether you're a performance artist or not," (Robinson) states. [15]

(Robinson) is currently experimenting with projection mapping onto CHEEKY LaSHAE's costume during performance. [16]

The #WHITEMANINMYPOCKET project

#WHITEMANINMYPOCKET, a project that began in 2013, is a work in which (Robinson) carries around a small figurine of a white male in her pocket with the goal of reminding herself: "you are more privileged than you think, no matter your gender, socioeconomic status or the color of your skin." [17] When (Robinson) began the project the white man figurine lived publicly online through her Instagram account with a hashtag and series of photos that document its daily goings-on. [17] As interest in the project has grown, (Robinson) has begun making a "tiny army of pocket-sized white men" figurines, which she often refers to as "talismen" and "charms." [17]

Kenya spoke about the piece to the Huffington Post in 2015, stating that: "As someone who strongly identifies as a black, American person, all of the violence inflicted upon black bodies -- verbally, emotionally, physically, spiritually -- it's really overwhelming. I needed something. I needed to create privilege for myself because every message that I was receiving told me I wasn't privileged at all. But, you know what? I am breathing. I am able to express myself in a positive way. That is a big privilege, but sometimes I forget that." [17]

Awards and residencies

Related Research Articles

Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan-born American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work. Born in Kenya, she has lived and established her career in New York City for more than twenty years. Mutu's work has directed the female body as subject through collage painting, immersive installation, and live and video performance while exploring questions of self-image, gender constructs, cultural trauma, and environmental destruction and notions of beauty and power.

Marilyn Minter is an American visual artist who is perhaps best known for her sensual paintings and photographs done in the photorealism style that blur the line between commercial and fine art. Minter currently teaches in the MFA department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magdalene Odundo</span> Kenyan-born British studio potter (born 1950)

Dame Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo is a Kenyan-born British studio potter, who now lives in Farnham, Surrey. Her work is in the collections of notable museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, The British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum of African Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonya Clark</span> American visual artist

Sonya Clark is an American artist of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Clark is a fiber artist known for using a variety of materials including human hair and combs to address race, culture, class, and history. Her beaded headdress assemblages and braided wig series of the late 1990s, which received critical acclaim, evoked African traditions of personal adornment and moved these common forms into the realm of personal and political expression. Although African art and her Caribbean background are important influences, Clark also builds on practices of assemblage and accumulation used by artists such as Betye Saar and David Hammons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Fish</span> American painter

Janet Fish is a contemporary American realist artist. Through oil painting, lithography, and screenprinting, she explores the interaction of light with everyday objects in the still life genre. Many of her paintings include elements of transparency, reflected light, and multiple overlapping patterns depicted in bold, high color values. She has been credited with revitalizing the still life genre.

Martha Wilson is an American feminist performance artist and the founding director of Franklin Furnace Archive art organization. Over the past four decades she has developed and "created innovative photographic and video works that explore her female subjectivity through role-playing, costume transformation, and 'invasions' of other peoples personas". She is a recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, and an Obie Award and a Bessie Award for commitment to artists’ freedom of expression. She is represented by P•P•O•W gallery in New York City.

Mariah Robertson is an American artist. She lives in New York City.

Shirley Kaneda is an abstract painter and artist based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaimie Warren</span> American photographer and performance artist

Jaimie Warren is an American photographer and performance artist who is based in Brooklyn, New York. Warren is a fellow in Interdisciplinary Arts from the New York Foundation for the Arts, she is the recipient of the Baum Award for An Emerging American Photographer, and is a featured artist on the PBS Art:21 series “New York Close Up”.

Mary Beth Edelson was an American artist and pioneer of the feminist art movement, deemed one of the notable "first-generation feminist artists". Edelson was a printmaker, book artist, collage artist, painter, photographer, performance artist, and author. Her works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

Rachel Perry is an American artist. She is known for conceptual works using drawing, photography, video, collage, sculpture and performance, which address “the fleeting nature of experience, the elusiveness of desire, and the persistence of objects in a throwaway culture.” Art critic Jerry Saltz has written that her work "not only grappl[es] with consumerism but [she is] just about swallowed whole by it.” Her work also considers themes of gender identity, narcissism, privacy and information overload.

Sarah Anne Johnson is a Canadian photo-based, multidisciplinary artist working in installation, bronze sculpture, oil paint, video, performance, and dance.

Humaira Abid is a contemporary artist who was born in Pakistan. The main element she works with is wood. Her recent work combines traditional miniature painting with wood sculpture. Her work examines women's roles, relationships, and taboos from a cross-cultural perspective.

Jacolby Satterwhite is an American contemporary artist recognized for fusing performance, digital animation, and personal ephemera to create immersive installations and related work referencing art history, "expanded cinema," and the pop-cultural worlds of American music videos, social media, and video games. He has exhibited work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, the New Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. In addition to MoMA, his work is in the public collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Seattle Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Kiasma, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Satterwhite has also served as a contributing director for the music video that accompanied Solange's 2019 visual album When I Get Home and directed a short film accompaniment to Perfume Genius's 2022 studio album Ugly Season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quilla Constance</span> British painter

Jennifer Allen, known professionally as Quilla Constance, is a British contemporary interdisciplinary artist and lecturer, born in Birmingham, 1980.

Syowia Kyambi is a multimedia and interdisciplinary artist and curator whose work spans photography, video, drawing, sound, sculpture and performance installation. She is of Kenyan and German descent, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is known for her "performative installations that recast historical (Western) narratives and intervene in spheres of colonial activities" with work reputed for tackling "complex and sometimes difficult or tabooed matters" that afford "multiple points of entry, grounded in a sense of place and history while recognizing the mutability of those concepts."

Mayme Kratz is a fine artist and desert forager known for her sculptural and two-dimensional mixed-media polymer resin works that encapsulate and preserve organic materials, in the artist's words, “giving value to things that are normally ignored…overlooked, stepped on, swept up as debris and thrown away”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow</span>

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow is an American interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. She is best known for her work in performance art. She teaches at the School of Visual Arts, and is a mentor in the New York Foundation for the Arts' Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program.

Yu-Chen Wang is a British-Taiwanese artist and curator. She is based in London, UK, working internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melati Suryodarmo</span> Indonesian performance artist

Melati Suryodarmo is an Indonesian durational performance artist. Her physically demanding performances make use of repetitive motions and often last for many hours, sometimes reaching "a level of factual absurdity". Suryodarmo has performed and exhibited throughout Europe and Asia as well as in North America. Born in Surakarta, she attended Padjadjaran University, graduating with a degree in international relations before moving to Germany. She lived there for 20 years, studying performance art at the Braunschweig University of Art with Butoh choreographer Anzu Furukawa and performance artist Marina Abramović.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Penelope Green, "The Serial Sleepover Artist," The New York Times , April 13, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lee Ann Norman, "Kenya (Robinson)," Bomb , March 20, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Kenya (Robinson), Curriculum Vitae.
  4. ↑ Kenya (Robinson), Huffington Post.
  5. 1 2 Aida Mallard, "The Art of Black Hair and Politics," Gainesville Sun , January 17, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Macarena Deij Prado, "Q&A with Visiting Artist Kenya (Robinson)," In The Loop, March 9, 2015.
  7. ↑ "10 Female Artists You Should Know About," Essence.
  8. ↑ Sky Obercam, "Colorful Canvas Files: Kenya (Robinson)," Clutch , November 14, 2011.
  9. ↑ James Phillip, ""All Over The Place" Exhibit Opening and Artist Talk," Patch.com , June 17, 2011.
  10. 1 2 Andrew Russeth, "Kenya (Robinson) Eats a Cracker in the Kitchen," 16 Miles of String, March 27, 2011.
  11. ↑ Kenya (Robinson), "Seven Days is the Length of a Guest's Life," January 11, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Commemorative Headdress of Her Journey Beyond Heaven". National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved Jun 11, 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Kenya (Robinson) is the 2018 Recipient of the Florida Prize in Contemporary Art". omart.org. Retrieved Jun 11, 2020.
  14. 1 2 Charlie Schmidlin, "CHEEKY LaSHAE Marries Karaoke, Puppetry, and Performance Art," Creators Project, July 8, 2015.
  15. 1 2 Carey Dunne, "At Karaoke Universal, CHEEKY LaSHAE Wants YOU to Be a Performance Artist," Brooklyn Magazine , July 20, 2015.
  16. ↑ CHEEKYLaSHAE.com
  17. 1 2 3 4 Priscilla Frank, “How a ‘White A White Man In My Pocket’ Can Help You Understand Privilege,” Huffington Post , April 3, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.