Today we’d like to introduce you to Gena Brodie Robbins.
Gena, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was raised in South Georgia (Tifton) where both my Mom and Dad were both teachers and coaches, we did not have art in schools there, so my Dad would teach me how to paint on sand dollars when we went to the beach at Indian Pass Beach, Florida in the summers.
We learned how to paint sunsets using the Walter Foster how to booklets we got at the local hobby shop. I did not plan to grow up to be an artist. My family expected me to major in voice. I was trained very young to sing and was blessed with vibrato at the age of 12. However, I just did not love Latin, and had horrible stage fright…and I LOVED the visual arts. I eventually majored in art and graduated from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia with a BFA in Art Education. I studied under painter, Harry Ally while attending there who instilled in me a true love for loose line, fast mark-making and the figure. I graduated and taught art for a while in the public schools, then my father fell ill with cancer. When he passed, I quit teaching art to pursue my dream of receiving my Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Painting. I went to the New York Artist School in N.Y., N.Y., travelled abroad to France to build my portfolio, and was accepted into the Savannah College of Art and Design Graduate School of Painting. While there, I was awarded a studio space through SCAD held at the Elizabeth Foundation for The Arts in Manhattan.
I interned at Exit Art Gallery near Chelsea, N.YC. and was influenced by the enormous works of the abstract paintings I observed while in New York. I developed large scale abstract works that were 8 feet and 7 feet high, and these works were the bulk of my graduating Thesis Show. My thesis shows opened doors to other shows including shows with SCAD Exhibitions. Once I graduated from SCAD, I married my husband Tray, and moved to Florida for a while. I continued to paint abstract works but would find the figure creeping back into my work. At times, animals would also find their way into my paintings. I opened a gallery in Florida, called Hollingsworth Gallery where I was a co-founder and director. I developed and curated over ten international and national shows while there until the economy tanked. We eventually left Florida, and I became a professor of Foundations where I taught 2-D and drawing courses at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
My husband needed a career change so we packed up once again and moved up to Atlanta where he could find work as a software engineer. I then dove heavily into painting the abstract figure, eventually joining the dk Gallery stable (owned by Donna Krueger) in Marietta, Georgia where I am still currently represented. I also recently found a wonderful art studio at the Tannery Row Artist Colony, in Buford, Ga. where 15 other artists paint and together develop and curate exciting art exhibits, artist talks and workshops. Just recently, three of my abstract figurative works were purchased through SCAD Exhibitions by Hotel La Coquillade in Gargus, France. Today, I am living in Suwanee Ga. where I am continually finding new ways to paint the figure in an abstract manner. I am also teaching art and working toward a strong body of work for my upcoming Solo Exhibit at the Quinlan Art Center in Gainesville Ga.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have painted many bodies of work. One particular body of work is called The Illumination Series. This work stemmed from an interest with the various emotions and moods that can be visually created through subtle and dramatic light in combination with the abstract human form. Internal and External illumination is explored through layers of transparent neutrals, transitioning warm and cool darks, and the application of thick contrasting, colorful bold marks. Intuitive, abstract swipes are made, and through the expressive ritual of scraping away and adding paint, figures emerge to discern a quiet need to be heard.
At times I pull away from recognizable imagery and work in a more autonomous and intuitive manner, concentrating on the formal issues of painting. Just last year I finished an investigative body of work called the Transformation Series. These paintings reflect the effects of time, loss, and the transformation that follows. This is central to the content of my work. Change is constant, and the metamorphosis involved is filled with transitional elements that serve as both direct and indirect means of transportation into new states of existence. These elements are explored through responsive mark-making; results of moments spent in contemplation and query concerning the effects of time, life cycles, and various states of flux within these circles of being. Throughout each painting, repeated loops of painted, fluid lines, and aggressive drawn marks enter the picture plane. These invading lines are wiped out and brought back, covering and uncovering past decisions.
Through this erosion of paint, a transformation begins. Transparent layers of color and lines reveal parts of earlier imagery. This imagery, later in the painting process, causes an intuitive reaction to either destroy existing mark, or to make additional mark. The act of destroying imagery created during the beginning of the painting stages is symbolic to the destruction of a species, or the loss of a loved one. Swirling, loop-like forms invade the surface, similar to the way cells are overcome with cancer, or the way nature’s cyclic patterns alter the earth’s surface. These events are investigated through a variety of mixed media and mark-making tools, such as spray paint, rags, squeegees, paint, polymers, marker, charcoal and graphite. Once the ritual of painting has been completed, an awareness of transformation materializes, and a new state of consciousness is reached.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
It is important to remember that the art of our time did not develop in a snap of a finger; rather, it reflects the social and political concerns of its cultural context. For example, artists of the 70’s who were inspired by the feminist movement, like Judy Chicago, who included images that had historical connections to women and women’s issues.
In the 1980s, artists investigated issues of identity and culture, specifically within politics, leading to appropriating the style and methods of mass media advertising.
More recently, artists like Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., have adapted characteristics of Minimalist art to create new abstract sculptures that encourage more personal interaction and emotional response among viewers.
Sometimes less is more, it allows the viewer to interpret more freely, connect to the art in a more personal and emotional level. Artists of today are doing exactly what artists of the past have been doing for centuries; reacted and expressed those reactions through whatever medium needed to do the job! Today’s art can be made of literally anything, from found objects to interactive digital programs. Either way it’s all about the human connection to each other, our environment and anything in between.
I am very in tuned to our world, and to the events that affect us all. At times, I find myself needing to reflect on my own reactions to these events. I have strong emotions seeing the news on the recent school shootings, being an art teacher in a public school has given me first hand concern with how I would direct my students in a school lockdown with an active shooter on school grounds. My students have become my subjects in my paintings, even more so recently. There is a need to document; to make a moment last, to remember. One of my paintings was of a 7th grade boy who had just finished his state tests. He was sad and felt as if he had failed. I watched him sit by a window reflecting on his tests. His reaction, expressions, and position made a lasting impression on me, one that led to a 6-foot painting of him, titled, CRCT. Little did I know until I had finished the painting that oddly, I was also expressing my own anxieties and nervousness administering these tests.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I am represented locally by dk Gallery in Marietta, Ga. located on the downtown square. I am also represented by SCAD Exhibitions in Savannah, Georgia. I work in my studio, # 96 at the Tannery Row Artist Colony in downtown Buford, Georgia which is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 12-4 pm.
Contact Info:
- Address: Brodie Studio, # 96, Tannery Row Artist Colony, 554 West Main Street, Buford, Ga. 30518
- Website: genabrodie.com
- Phone: 386-338-1735
- Email: genabrodie@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genabrodierobbins/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gena.b.robbins
- Twitter: scadartsales.com
- Other: dkgallery.us
Image Credit:
Personal Photo of Me working in my studio, Image taken by Tracy Robbins, Image One- Surprise Visit, Mixed Media on Canvas, 36 x 36 inches, by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image Two- Inner Strength, Mixed Media on Canvas, 6 x 4 feet, by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 3- CRCT, Oil on Canvas, 4 x 6 feet, by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 4-Paper Doll Girl in Progress taken in studio by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 5- Paper Doll Girl, Mixed Media on Panel, 18 x 24 inches, by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 6- By My Side, Always, Mixed Media on Canvas, 36 x 36 inches by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 7- Studio Shot in Brodie Studio at the Tannery Row Artist Colony, by Gena Brodie Robbins, Image 8- Me in My Studio at Work, image taken by Tracy Robbins.
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