What is my work about?
My paintings are abstract and make reference to basketball team colors, offensive/defensive strategies in basketball, skin tones, and sentimental gradients from my memory. Sometimes these elements overlap. In other paintings, a single element is isolated. The paint is brushed, dripped, squeegeed, scratched, scraped, and squeezed right out of the tube. Under-layers are strategically revealed. In my paintings there is frustration, longing, excitement, hope, humor, futility, and loss. The result is visual tension and unscripted drama that alludes to the human experience.
Artist Statement
In Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” Alvy’s ex-wife, Robin, asks “Alvy, what is so fascinating about a group of pituitary cases trying to stuff the ball through a hoop?” Alvy reponds, “What’s fascinating is that it’s physical. You know, it’s one thing about intellectuals, they prove that you can be absolutely brilliant and have no idea what’s going on. But on the other hand the body doesn’t lie, as we now know.” Basketball blends analytical thinking and intuition at a fast pace. The physical tension that takes place in sports is always exciting and never gets old. It feels human. Coaches will often tell their players to “leave it all on the court” which means to give the game 110% and don’t leave the game with any regrets. Be completely sincere, do not doubt your intuition, and you can win. The same goes for making art.
In my studio, I feel like I am both coach and player in an important basketball game and I have called time-out. I rally the team together (my artistic influences, my personal history, materials, things professors and mentors have told me, and so forth) and make plays. While I paint, I ask myself these questions: Can I paint a personal painting? Can a painting embody something human? When “time-out” is over, I react to decisions made on my paintings. I move the paint around intuitively. My paintings are abstract and make reference to basketball team colors, offensive/defensive strategies in basketball, skin tones, and sentimental gradients from my memory. Sometimes these elements overlap. In other paintings, a single element is isolated. The paint is brushed, dripped, squeegeed, scratched, scraped, and squeezed right out of the tube. Under-layers are strategically revealed. In my paintings there is frustration, longing, excitement, hope, humor, futility, and loss. The result is visual tension and unscripted drama that alludes to the human experience.
CV
Education
August 2011 – May 2013
MFA Visual Arts (GPA: 3.78), Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase NY
August 2006 – August 2009
BFA Painting and Printmaking (GPA: 3.59), Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA
August 2005 – May 2006
Courses in Studio Art and Video (GPA: 3.70), Rutgers University, Newark NJ
Exhibitions (Group shows unless noted otherwise)
2014
Chronicle (curated by Edgar Meza), Scott Charmin Gallery, Houston, TX
Fade and Spill Out and Peer at Another’s Whole (curated by Zachary Rawe and Jamie Felton), FJORD, Philadelphia, PA
2013
FRESH 10 (curated by Jason Andrew, John Silvis and Julian Jimarez Howard), OUTLET Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
MFA Thesis Group Exhibition, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
Six Degrees of Separation (curated by Jackie Cantwell and Molly Myer), The Bishop, Brooklyn, NY
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING, American University-Katzen Center for the Arts, Washington DC
2012
Divining Rod (curated by Faye Hirsch), Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
2011
Make the Road by Walking (curated by Stamatina Gregory), Passage Gallery, Purchase, NY
Survival in an Unknown Land, 1019A Gallery, Purchase, NY
Mahal (curated by Patrick Cruz and Chaya Go), Yactac Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
I’m Going to Remember This for a Long Time, Borjo Coffeehouse, Norfolk, VA (solo show)
Winter Salon, Brooklyn Artists Gym, Brooklyn, NY
Blueprints (curated by Hannah Haworth and Aaron Valentin), Gitana Rosa Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010
AND BEYOND (curated by Margot Walsh), Parse Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Nasaan?, Ishmael Bernal Gallery, Quezon City, Philippines
Storm (curated by Jill Wickenheisser), Submerged Art Gallery, Newark, NJ
Overstimulated, 210 Front St., South Street Seaport, New York, NY
It’s Personal, St. Joseph’s College Alumni Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Wall-to-Wall, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ
Stimulus Package, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
I Love It Against My Better Judgment, Senior Show, FAB, Richmond, VA
Interaction 34, The Fishbowl Gallery, Richmond, VA
Postcolonial Power Hour, VCU Commons Gallery, Richmond, VA (two-person show with Chino Amobi)
View: Undergraduate Painting Exhibition, FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA
2008
Beyond the Barrelman, Mercury Cafe Gallery, Chicago, IL
Undergraduate Fine Art Exhibition, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA
View: Undergraduate Painting Exhibition, FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA
Residencies
2013
Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL
2010
Sambalikhaan Foundation, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
2009
ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
Teaching Experience
January 2012 – May 2013
Adjunct Instructor for “Introduction to Drawing” (three semesters), Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
August 2011 – December 2011
Graduate Teaching Assistant (one semester), Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
Arts Related Occupational Experience
November 2013 – Present
Facilities Assistant, International Studio and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn, NY
September 2013 – Present
Freelance Art Handler, Acumen Fine Art Logistics, Maspeth, NY
January 2010 – June 2010
Exhibitor Relations Intern, Scope Art Show, New York, NY
January 2009 – February 2009
Freelance Video Artist and Graphic Designer, Department of Theatre at The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
May 2008 – August 2008
Gallery Assistant Intern, Blankspace Gallery, Oakland, CA
May 2008 – August 2008
Gallery Assistant Intern, Little Tree Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Awards and Distinctions
2014
NYC Emerging Artist Grant Nominee, Rema Hort Mann Foundation
2012
Minority Graduate Fellowship, Purchase College, SUNY
SUNY Graduate Fellowship, Purchase College, SUNY
2011
Merit Scholarship, Purchase College, SUNY
2009
University Service Award Nomination, VCU School of the Arts
Honors Advanced Painting Program, VCU School of the Arts
Dean’s Honor List, VCU School of the Arts
2008
Theresa Pollak Scholarship, VCU School of the Arts
Bon Air Artists Association Scholarship, VCU School of the Arts
2006
Dean’s Honor List, Rutgers University-Newark College of Arts and Sciences
Press
Hardt, Allison. “Distilling Abstraction at Fjord: To Fade and Spill Out And (And Look At Another’s Whole) | PaperClips215”. 17 February, 2014. <http://www.paperclips215.com/distilling-abstraction-at-fjord-tofade-and-spill-out-and-and-look-at-anothers-whole/>.
ADA Gallery. “ADA GALLERY: Roberto Jamora: ada gallery residency program 2009 !” 19 August 2009.
<http://adagallery.blogspot.com/2009/08/roberto-jamora-ada-gallery-residency.html>.