Robin M Jordan "Scrappy"

Chrystoph Marten

poster for Robin M Jordan "Scrappy"

This event has ended.

Scrappy, an exhibition by Brooklyn artist, Robin M Jordan, will be on view at Chrystoph Marten Salon from April 21 - May 15, 2011. A reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, April 21 from 6-8 p.m. Known for her inventive use of materials and lyrical approach to artmaking, Jordan—in her first solo exhibition in New York City—will show recent sculptural works based on the theme of garden. Jordan says, “As an artist who is inspired by the materials in my environment, it is my home, garden, and the coming of spring
that is the inspiration for this exhibition.”

Jordan creates her sculptures from welded steel rods and a variety of recycled materials—salvaged umbrella parts; silk and plastic flowers; abandoned plastic bottles; deconstructed sections from old paintings, works on paper, and sculptures; beach debris; and discarded kitchen utensils. The welded pieces are either based on the artist’s line drawings, or formed into leaves and stems and combined with scrap assemblages. These assemblages are freely composed in the studio—drawers of scraps scrutinized, placed, repositioned, balanced, stitched, and attached in a continuous movement until the alchemy is right. Light is an essential quality for Jordan. In the welded works, such as Those Little Blue Pills, the working process of transforming lines from paper, to steel rods, and into form endows the sculptures “with a lyrical nature, giving a quality of lightness and movement.” In the assemblages, such as Moondrops or Send in the Clouds, Jordan strives for work that is “light in weight, responsive to movement by air currents, and enhanced visually through translucence.”

References to the urban landscape, both the natural and the industrial, are evident in Jordan’s sculpture. For example, in Scrap Garden, dried flowers mixed with studio debris are ‘preserved’ in an acrylic gel, then ‘framed’ with the spokes of a storm-battered umbrella. Night Garden, constructed primarily with umbrella debris and plastic bottles, is at once a testament to the beauty of a night storm and a lament for the abject of the streets. Jordan’s sculpture gains authority through her poetic use of materials as a metaphor for the power of the regenerative cycle of life, potently expressed in the concept of garden. Jordan’s exhibition title, Scrappy, not only refers to the source of her materials but also clearly expresses the determination necessary to survive and make art in the ragged and rich urban landscape of New York City.

Brooklyn artist, Robin Melton Jordan, was born in Pittsburgh, PA and grew up in Kentucky and North Carolina. As the daughter of a craftswoman, she learned traditional craft process at an early age and developed a strong interest in the vernacular art of the South. She relocated to New York City to study painting and sculpture at the Art Students League and at Pratt Institute. She integrates the knowledge of craft processes learned from her mother into her mixed media paintings and sculpture. Jordan has most recently shown work at Natureart in Brooklyn, NY and the Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY.

[Image: Robin M Jordan "Scrap Garden (detail)" (2010) dried flowers, umbrella parts, self-leveling gel, mixed media 27 1/4 x 15 1/4 x 3/8 in.]

Media

Schedule

from April 21, 2011 to May 15, 2011

Opening Reception on 2011-04-21 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Robin M Jordan

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