Artist Stacey Robinson, whose work focuses on ideas of “Black Utopias” as spaces of peace away from colonial influence, is the fifth artist featured in the College’s Art Installation Series.
He will mount his exhibition, Branding the Afrofuture, an amalgam of posters, branding, comics and other graphic matter, in the Schaffer Library Learning Commons Monday, March 27 through Thursday, March 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Everyone who’s walking by – students, faculty, staff, members of the public – will see the creative process as it’s happening. They’ll be able to interact with the artist on an informal basis,” said Julie Lohnes, curator of Art Collections and Exhibitions."
A reception is scheduled for Friday, March 31, during Common Lunch (12:55 p.m.-1:45 p.m.) Refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public.
An assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois, Robison is an Arthur Schomburg Fellow who is originally from Albany and holds an M.F.A. from the University at Buffalo. His work considers Black protest movements and the art movements that document them.
“I create multimedia works as resistance to Black oppression globally,” Robinson writes. “My exhibitions are designed as inspiration for imagining the endless possibilities beyond injustices to discuss the weightier matters of Black existence inside of integrated spaces or away from colonial factors.”
As part of the collaborative team “Black Kirby” with artist John Jennings, Robinson creates graphic novels, gallery exhibitions and lectures that deconstruct the work of artist Jack Kirby to re-imagine Black resistance spaces inspired by hip hop, religion and the arts and sciences.
His library installation will remain in place for one year.
Funding for this exhibition and event is provided by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant as part of the "Our Shared Humanities" college-wide initiative.
The installation is in conjunction with the library exhibit, “Black Space: Reading (and Writing) Ourselves into the Future. A Celebration of the African Diasporic Imagination in Afrofuturism,” which runs through April 19.