Gena Brodie Robbins
Savannah, Georgia
Artist Gena Brodie Robbins draws deep inspiration from the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This interest drives her to explore the emotions conveyed through a subtle and dramatic interplay between light and dark in combination with the abstract human form. "The figures reveal moments of introspection and inner solitude," shares Gena. Born in Tifton, Georgia, a place devoid of an art scene, her father taught her how to paint on sand dollars when they went to the beach in the summers. She earned her BFA in Art Education and MFA in Painting. In her loft studio, Gena dedicates specific areas to large-scale works and smaller creations, all accompanied by her favorite indie, folk, and jazz tunes. Beyond painting, she conducts art workshops, writes poetry over a pot of tea, and explores the Appalachian trails with her dogs.
Artist Statement
Current bodies of work stem from an interest in the Bay Area Figurative movement during the 1950s and 60s. This interest developed a need to explore the various emotions and moods that can be visually created through subtle and dramatic light and darks in combination with the abstract human form.
Internal and external illumination is explored through layers of neutrals, transitioning warm and cool darks, and the application of thick, contrasting, colorful brushstrokes, using a variety of mixed media and mark-making tools: rags, squeegees, oil and acrylic paint, polymers, marker, charcoal and graphite.
The combination of these figures in turn reveals an inner solitude or moments of introspection, like when walking along a country road or quiet beach.
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 excavation of paint, a transfiguration begins. Transparent layers of color reveal parts of earlier imagery, varying from recognizable shapes such as the animal or human figure to non-recognizable, even ambiguous shapes.
This imagery, later in the painting process, causes an intuitive reaction to either accept, destroy, or alter its existence; resulting in an emergence of figures and forms that discern a quiet need to be heard.
Once the ritual of painting has been completed, an awareness of transformation materializes, and a new state of consciousness and understanding is reached.
Internal and external illumination is explored through layers of neutrals, transitioning warm and cool darks, and the application of thick, contrasting, colorful brushstrokes, using a variety of mixed media and mark-making tools: rags, squeegees, oil and acrylic paint, polymers, marker, charcoal and graphite.
The combination of these figures in turn reveals an inner solitude or moments of introspection, like when walking along a country road or quiet beach.
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 excavation of paint, a transfiguration begins. Transparent layers of color reveal parts of earlier imagery, varying from recognizable shapes such as the animal or human figure to non-recognizable, even ambiguous shapes.
This imagery, later in the painting process, causes an intuitive reaction to either accept, destroy, or alter its existence; resulting in an emergence of figures and forms that discern a quiet need to be heard.
Once the ritual of painting has been completed, an awareness of transformation materializes, and a new state of consciousness and understanding is reached.
Artist Background
Savannah College of Art and Design
Master of Fine Arts, 2006
Valdosta State University
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1995