Deborah Roberts réalise des collages avec divers matériaux et combine à la fois des images trouvées et fabriquées, dont les détails sont rehaussés au crayon ou à la peinture. Ses sources photographiques proviennent de la culture populaire, de publication actuelle. Ces dernières années, elle a réalisé à travers ses collages, des figures composites de jeunes filles et femmes noires américaines adultes, les yeux de Rihanna, les bras de Michelle Obama, les bras de Issa Rae…
Ces femmes sont le sujet de Deborah Roberts, en particulier les jeunes filles noires qui se posent des questions sur leur propre beauté quand elles ont 8 ou 9 ans. Ces filles sont à la fois fortes et vulnérables, elles ont déjà perdu toute innocence. Les filles de Deborah Roberts sont fières, et dépassent le stéréotype de la femme noire en y ajoutant un peu d’humour mordant. A la différence de la culture blanche, Deborah Roberts dit qu’il n’y a pas d’idée établie d’un idéal de beauté noire américain, que celui-ci change en permanence. « Mes idéaux de race et de beauté ont été construit sur la base de l’art de la renaissance et des magazines de mode. »
- The up town girl
- Many crowns
- Counter punch
- Monkey Chant
Études
Syracuse University Research Fellow, Syracuse, NY; MFA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA
Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art, (Summer Session) Pont Aven, France
University of North Texas, Denton Texas,
Prix
Artist of the Year, Austin, TX, 2017
Pollock Krasner Foundation, Grantee, 2016
SU MFA Exhibition “Best in Show” 2014
Syracuse University Graduate Research Fellow 2011-2014
Artist of the Year, Austin Texas 2008, 2017
Creative Opportunity Grant, 2012, 2013, 2014 Syracuse University
San Francisco African American Legacy Scholarship, 2010.
President Point of Light Recipient, President George H. Bush 1991
Atelier
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, 2018
Résidences
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, Florida, March – April, 2019
Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL 2018
Ginsberg-Klaus Award Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA 2014
Ox –Bow Art Residency, Michigan 2005
Coronado Studios Austin, TX 2006
Stone Metal Press, San Antonio TX 2006
Expositions (sélection)
Expositions personnelles
(Titre et date à venir) Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA March 2019
Fragile but Fixable, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2018
8Uninterrupted, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2018
Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi, Spelman Museum, Atlanta, GA 2018
Untitled, Solo Booth Art Fair Miami Basel, Miami Beach, FL 2017
Ingenue, Fort Gansevoort Gallery, New York, NY 2017
Nobody’s Darling: New Works by Deborah Roberts, Christian-Green Gallery, Austin, TX 2017
Coil, Coarse, Twist, Re-twist, Art Palace, Houston, TX, 2016
One and Many, Art Palace, Houston, TX, 2014
Domestic Disturbance, Diverse Art Gallery, Austin, TX. 2014
Consensual Marks, SDCC, Dallas, TX 2014,
When We Just Existed, Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY, 2013
Resistance Begins at Home: Rethinking Otherness, Dallas, TX, 2011
Forks and Spoons, South Dallas Culture Center, Dallas, TX 2008
Bearing Witness, Stone Metal Press, San Antonio, TX 2006
Reconstructing, Rethinking, Reacting, O’Kane Gallery, Houston, TX 2006
Chicago Culture Center (South Shore) Chicago, Ill, 2004
Center for African & African American Studies, Austin, TX, 2004
Expositions de groupe
(Titre et date à venir) MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, June 2019
Reclamation! Pan-African from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, 2018
Talisman In The Age Of Difference, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK, 2018
Soul Recordings, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
« Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute to Barkley L. Hendricks » Mass Art, Boston MA, 2018
Fictions, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY 2017
Your Body is Your Battleground, Volta Art Fair, New York, NY 2017
March Madness, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY 2017
I know why the caged bird sings, Carver Museum, Austin, TX 2016
Gently Fried, MACC, Austin, TX 2015
The House on Mango Street, National Mexican American Museum, Chicago, Ill. 2015
The Way Out- MFA, Rogue Space, New York, NY 2014
Gender Is A Kind of Doing, MCCLA Galleries, San Francisco CA, 2013
The Drawing Center, Viewing Program, New York 2011- present
Mirame: 21st century portraits for Latino/a America, Sacramento, CA, 2011
Women of Color, Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland, CA 2009
Her Stories, Park School, Baltimore. MD.2009
Taking Possession, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2007
Counter Intuitive, Chicago State University, Chicago, Ill. 2007
Uncle Tom to Peeping Tom, University of Milwaukee UGA, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
Boundless, Perceptions from Within, DAC, Austin, TX, 2006
Museum of Science and Industry Juried Exhibition. Chicago, Ill, 2005
Woman Made Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Chicago, Ill, 2005
Subjective Visions, UTSA, San Antonio, TX, 2005
Figure It Out, Art Palace Austin, TX, 2005
Susan Woodson Gallery, Chicago, Ill, 2004
Unmasked: A Collective Statement on Beauty, Butridge Gallery Austin, TX, 2004
Bird Juried Exhibition, Concordia University, Austin, TX, 2003
Our Heritage–Creating New Legacies Juried Exhibition, Butridge Gallery, Austin, TX, 2003
Austin Bergstrom International Airport Juried Exhibition, Austin, TX, 2003
Center for African American Studies, University of Texas, Austin, TX 2002
Bibliographie
2018
Onyewuwnyi, Ikechukwu Casmir, « Deborah Roberts at Luis de Jesus, » Carla, Issue 13, August.
Dambrot, Shana Nys, « Deborah Roberts at Luis de Jesus, » Art and Cake, June 10.
Luke, Ben, « Artist Deborah Roberts on Yinka Shonibare exhibition and why ‘black is not a colour any more, » Evening Standard, June 6.
Mizota, Sharon, « Roberts’ powerful statement of black female identity, » LA Times, May 29.
Miller, Ashia, “Deborah Roberts’ #EvolutionOfMimi art tackles heavy topic of colorism,” RollingOut, May 25.
Amirkhani, Jordan, « Art Review: ‘The Evolution of Mimi’ at Spelman Museum, » BURNAWAY, April 25.
Cochran, Rebecca, « Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi, » Art Papers, March 17.
Sargent, Antwaun, “The Artist Changing the Face of Black Girlhood,” VICE, March 6.
Feaster, Felicia, “The power and pathos of girlhood defines Deborah Roberts’ collages,” The Atlantic Journal Contribution, March 6.
Van Proyen, Mark, “Deborah Roberts @ Jenkins Johnson,” Square Cylinder, February 19.
Larocca, Amy, “Portfolio: Her Breakthrough Women,” The New York Magazine, February 5.
Green, Tyler, “Deborah Roberts, Anita Witek,” Modern Art Notes Podcast, February.
Johns, Myke, “Artist Deborah Roberts ‘Emancipates’ Black Girlhood In Spelman Exhibit,” National Public Radio, January 25.
2017
Twersky, Carolyn, “New Studio Museum Show,” ARTNEWS, August 23.
Marino, Rebecca, “Q+A with Deborah Roberts,” Conflict of Interest, July 17.
Scott, Andrea K. “March Madness in the Meatpacking District,” The New Yorker, April 10.
Anspon, Catherine D. “Austin Gets Its Own Art Fair,” Papercity Magazine, March 30.
Kamm, Rebecca. “You Can’t Deny Us: The Artists Showcasing the Power if Female Athletes,”
Broadly Vice, March 28. “At Fort Gansevoort, March Madness takes on a new meaning,” A Hotel Life, April 23.
Evans, Dayna. “What Does It Mean to Be a Woman in Sports?,” The Cut, March 20.
2016
Knudson, Rainey. “Naming and Shaming: Deborah Roberts at Art Palace”, Glasstire, November 21.
2014
Ryzin, Jeanne Claire van. “Contemporary art exhibit probes African-American identity, Statesmen, September19. Huete, Betsy. “Deborah Roberts: One and Many,” Glasstire, November 29.
Ward, Jeff M. “Deborah Roberts: Reconstructing, Reacting and Rethinking at O’Kane Gallery,” Fluent Collaborative, issue 79, November 17.