Existing comment:
"Successions: Traversing US Colonialism" is a series of large-
scale, double-sided mixed media assemblage quilts that explore social, cultural, and economic inequality prevalent in US territories including Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands in addition to the federal district of Washington, DC.
These quilts are suspended in the gallery, creating an immersive experience for the viewer to engage with. Each quilt's "Political" side, seen when entering the gallery from the staircase entrance, visually deconstructs each territory's national flag or seal. This side reflects interpretations of the socio-economic, environmental, and racial implications that have shaped the current conditions of citizens in those spaces. The works seen from the elevator entrance of the gallery, the "Spiritual" side of the quilts, include geometric forms and mark-making that focus on each territory's culture and spirituality in addition to our collective humanity.
These points of view are the crux of "Successions," amalgamated into a larger discourse about abstract painting as a pathway towards understanding our society's complexities. Robles-Gordon's abstraction builds on the legacy of artists from Washington, DC who've used their practice as a forum for social change. |