XL Arts

Criticism was highly constructive for Deborah Roberts

By V. Marc Fort
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Friday, April 21, 2006

Six years ago, in the space of a breath, native Austinite Deborah Roberts' artwork and life altered. And it all happened after she made a flippant comment to Blanton Museum curator Annette Carlozzi during a home studio visit.

"She was telling me what she thought about my work, and everything was really positive," recalled Roberts during a recent interview. "Then I said, 'Yeah . . . I'm going to be at the Whitney art museum one day.' "

Silence.

"No. You're not going to be at the Whitney," Carlozzi countered bluntly.

"I think my heart was in the bottom of my shoes at that time," Roberts said. "I don't know if I even heard anything she said after that, but evidently I heard that."

Carlozzi went on to comfort Roberts, explaining that what is being created in contemporary African American art is quite different than the Norman Rockwell-inspired, African American community portraits that Roberts had been painting up to that time.

Roberts picked up her heart and put it back in her chest. Then for months, she proceeded to do the research and work that would help her learn how to become a part of what is understood to be contemporary African American art.

"Up until that time, Deborah made narrative paintings, morality tales and genre scenes that were familiar and comfortable for audiences," Carlozzi said recently, when asked to recall the conversation that inspired Roberts to up the ante on her life's work.

"She has since began asking more questions, exploring a broader range of concerns," Carlozzi said. "She was receptive to stretch in terms to the dialogue within her paintings. And it put her work in closer alignment with what's going on in the contemporary art world."

After that meeting, Roberts completely reinvented her signature style.

"We get comfortable looking at nice, pretty pictures. I wanted to challenge my viewer, and let them work a little bit for what I was giving them," Roberts said.

Her continued evolution is evident in her newest work, which has received warm receptions, not only in Austin, but around the United States. Part of her new explorations were included in the recent Dougherty Arts Center group exhibit that she created and curated, "Boundless."

"African Americans don't speak in one voice or one language," Roberts explained. "And when you only show this one voice, you're limiting us. What I wanted to do with 'Boundless' was show some work dealing with all the issues of being a black woman.

"If (African Americans) think that we are no longer monolithic in our thoughts and actions, then our work should not look that way," Roberts said.

During a recent visit to her East Austin home studio, one could witness the artist surrounded by the heroic images in her paintings. Roberts still lives in a part of the old Blacklands neighborhood that hasn't fully succumbed to gentrification. Her new work, like her old work, still reflects the glorious African American faces and vistas right outside her front door.

Roberts still draws on inspiration and influence from her favorite artists — Norman Rockwell, Jean-Paul Baptiste and Vincent van Gogh — as well as essayist W.E.B. Dubois and Cornel West. Yet she has added some scathing polemic to her artistic analysis of pop culture. This deeper thematic exploration yields her art not only contemporary, but turns its viewpoint toward the future.

Roberts explained that she uses her art to undermine institutionalized racism and to explore negative images of African American sexuality in the media.

"When you look back, many negative images of black sexuality today are based on when we were brought over to this country, put on platforms and stripped naked," Roberts said. "That has held in our community and psyche since 400 years ago."

Roberts' current exhibit, on display through May 1 at Studio 107, also unravels old racist images — not unlike Austin artist Michael Ray Charles — as well as police brutality and gender stereotypes.

The prolific artist has set aside the next couple of months to create new works. This fall, Roberts will be featured in three solo shows at the South Dallas Cultural Center, the O'Kane Gallery in Houston and at a Chicago State University gallery.

Roberts took the time to map out her future with a five-year plan after meeting with Carlozzi all those years ago.

"I think all artists should do that," she said with a knowing smile. "I think I'm doing well."

Considering that her private collectors include Donovan McNabb, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Cosby, "doing well" is a bit of an understatement.

And with her continued 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. work ethic, patterned after van Gogh's, Roberts' dream of an exhibit at the Whitney might not be as far off as it once seemed.