Join artists Dana Robinson and Maya Varadaraj for a conversation moderated by On Being curator Stephanie Baptist followed by a reception to celebrate the show.
Curated by Stephanie Baptist, On Being features the work of two visual artists: Dana Robinson and Maya Varadaraj. Drawing from a newer body of works (2020-2022), the exhibition consists of paintings and several installations that ask us to reconsider dominant narratives that feed into our personal and social identities. Central to these artists’ practice is a penchant for using old memorabilia — magazines, advertisements, and calendars to investigate race and cultural identity.
Dana Robinson’s work addresses black female identity by using 70s Ebony magazines as source materials. In the Ebony Reprinted series (2018-present) we see smeared and textured paintings of unrecognizable faces pulled from magazine covers. Robinson deliberately uses a bright and playful color palette to invite accessibility while setting the stage for a deeper analysis of these vibrant works. Removing the original meaning and intent behind these covers, Robinson hopes to “eliminate all traces of exploitative, white-dominated, capitalist and commercial language” as a way to gain greater agency.
Similarly, Varadaraj’s work often explores the South Asian women's docile persona, as reflected in calendars, advertisements and illustrations, stemming from the 1940s and permeates to the present day. Her dislocation and masking of women from these prescribed domestic settings and responsibilities, liberate them from servitude and inscribe new meaning around convention and one’s place in the world. For this exhibition, Varadaraj presents a new series of charcoal drawings and paintings. Stepping away from the use of pop culture images to access a more personal narrative. Here the artist uses her own family photographs to interpret the manifestation of society through the individual and the family. Graphite drawings juxtapose highly detailed drawings with large areas of blurred graphite that swallow the figures’ face. Within these blurred areas, the artist intends for society to enter the personal — their own identities as well as interpretations. These individualized perspectives give added meaning to the gestures, clothes and other details found within the drawings.
This exhibition is an exploration of life, its complexities and one’s place in the world. While Robinson and Varadaraj works are singular in practice, shared commonalities include dissection (archival source material) and abstraction as a tool to re-address history, the stories we’ve been told and how identities are perceived.
Stephanie Baptist was a 2019 Catherine Hannah Behrend Fellow, a program of 92nd Street Y to support rising stars in visual arts administration.
The Art Center faculty, adult and special exhibitions are supported by Catherine Hannah Behrend.
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