CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Artist Stacey Robinson’s work features vibrantly colored photo collages and delicate pencil and ink abstract drawings with monochromatic color palettes, both of which portray themes of race, social justice and Afrofuturism.
The University of Illinois graphic design professor in the School of Art and Design is showing his work at several local exhibitions this month to introduce his art to the community. He is working toward creating shows in which he can control aspects of the environment to create a communal space for conversations.
“I want to create an experience that I think of as a temporary utopia. My utopia is a type of party, a never-ending beat break,” said Robinson, also a disc jockey.
Several of his photo collages will be on display at [co][lab], 206 W. Main St., Urbana, as part of this weekend’s Boneyard Arts Festival. His work will remain on view at [co][lab] through May, and he hopes to DJ a closing reception for the [co][lab] exhibition at Sipyard.
One piece in the show is titled “Dark Sankofa,” meaning “to go back and get it.”
“As we’re going into the future, we need to purposefully go back and get our past so we don’t forget it,” Robinson said.
The Afrofuturist work shows a woman looking at an image of the African continent superimposed on the planet Saturn. While she’s looking at her future, behind her a great white shark in a three-piece suit jumps out of bloody water. The shark represents racism, classicism and the injustices black people suffer at the hands of corporations, Robinson said. The image is overlaid with a geometrical design based on the golden ratio.
“The golden ratio is used to construct perfect composition,” Robinson said. “Can Afrofuturism use the golden ratio to construct a perfect future? I’m thinking about a way of designing liberated black futures.”
Robinson’s work also appears at CU Adventures in Time and Space, 302 N. Broadway Ave., Urbana, for about a month, beginning this weekend. The work is that of Black Kirby, a collaboration of Robinson and John Jennings, a U. of I. alumnus and former art professor who is now at the University of California, Riverside. Their work as Black Kirby often uses the style of Jack Kirby, the artist who created many of the Marvel Comics superheroes, and mixes it with other pop culture references to examine a broader spectrum of black identity. Much of their work imagines black superheroes and references issues such as the legacy of slavery, lynchings and police brutality.
The Black Kirby images at CU Adventures in Time and Space were the result of Robinson’s first attempts to make abstract art that is less figurative and that uses monochromatic coloring that is more atmospheric. It was an experiment in stepping away from overtly political artwork, Robinson said.
“Can black artists be truly abstract artists?” he asked. “No matter what, we’re black and something else – black and activist, black and religious, black and an artist. Everything we make has to be purposed. The work I’m making is very abstract, but it is full of politics as I’m describing the pieces.”
The images were commissioned by the musician Future Perfekt for his EP “3lements” and were based on one-word prompts from the tracks on the EP. “Angel,” the cover design for the album package, shows an angel with broken wings, fallen to Earth and walking through the desert.
“His chromatically contrasted eyes glow with relentlessness. This being has seen worlds and stars birth and die over eons,” Robinson wrote about the image. “This angel carries a story. Through time and circumstance, this being will survive the desert storm to carry his message.”
Other images in the series include “Ocean,” a collage featuring a black mermaid-inspired creature building her underwater environment; “Sun,” Robinson’s first use of a monochromatic coloring style, with heavy black lines balancing the yellow color; and “Cloud,” “a playful approach to exploring an idea of elevation,” Robinson said. “Cloud” prominently features a powerful set of hands with wings, representing travel beyond physical labor, and showing a sign of black unity.
The show at CU Adventures in Time and Space will be the first time any of the images other than “Ocean” have been exhibited.
Robinson will also have a piece of his work in a show opening April 27 at the Independent Media Center, 202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana that features the work of local black artists.