ARTS 2F SUNDAY MAY 24, 1998 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
JANE GRAU
VISUAL ARTS
At Blue Pony
I'm keeping an eye out for Charlottean Mikel Robinson.He identifies himself as being self-taught, meaning he's had little formal art instruction. Unfortunately, the term "self-taught" is most often applied to outsider artists, which he definitely is not. However, like many outsiders he has a direct line to the emotions, but conceptually and methodologi-cally is quite sophisticated.
Robinson's paintings are really assemblages that involve layers of material and meaning. In "Waiting for my wings," an angel with tin wings covered with real feathers plaintively explains in text that he suffered, therefore he's owed a place in heaven. The hard-hitting "Black Heart" is a shadowbox. When the light is on, a gentleman's face turns into a skull.Robinson doesn't let the know-ledge, cynicism and pain we acquire as we grow up cloud his psyche. Art is his way of saying "The emperor has no clothes."
Like a child, Robinson is very tactile. He revels in the scratchy surfaces and lines of unpolished material, digs in the dirt of ideas and images on his search for truth, and leaves smudges behind to let us know that an enfant sevant was here.Go look at "Love Endures" and "Annette's Ghost" and see if he doesn't put you in touch with a lot of things you thought were hidden.IF YOU'RE GOING
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"Separations," mixed media paintings and shadowbox
constructions by
Mikel Robinson, is at the Blue Pony Gallery, 3202-A N. Davidson St., through May 31. Hours are 11am-5pm Tuesday through Saturday. Details: 704-334-9390, gallery hours.
