Kenya (Robinson)

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

Kenya (Robinson)’s work was not only featured in the 2018 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art… she also took home the top prize for this year’s event.  I was so moved by the messages in her work – commentaries on the corporate nature of life, the consumerist qualities of race and the idea of everyday false facades are made even more profound by her viciously creative artistic execution.  Her repeated use of the white plastic executive (“Dave Fowler” or #WHITEMANINMYPOCKET) and the metallic briefcases drive home the idea of corporate control  over every part of human existence, becoming haunting symbols of the powerlessness of the routine and mundane.

Please enjoy a brief excerpt from her artist statement…

In “Eight Days a Week, (Corporate Karma/Deal or No Deal),” she presents the briefcase as a McGuffin instrument used to package various examples of ready-made, accepted whiteness.  Bridal flowers, amber prescription bottles, gun shells, a manicured lawn with a matching picket fence, plastic pearls (when the world is your oyster), raffle tickets – each of these is a wedge in the mandala of attache.

For more information on Kenya (Robinson), consider following her on Instagram (kenya9) or visit her blog at…

http://kenyaworkspace.blogspot.com/

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I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.