Small Works' designed to expand Joe Normal's world-view
ARTS 2F SUNDAY JUNE, 18 2000 THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
"I would give anything to wake up one morning and be Joe Normal, but I can't." So says Mikel Robinson, one of the eleven artists in the exhibit "Small Works: An Intimate View," at the Blue Pony Gallery through July 15, about reconciling the demands of real life with the compulsion to make art.
Robinson's "abnormal" condition is common in the pro-fession. One must re-spect the dedication, passion and courage that lead artists to make the sacrifices - such as sleeping, eating, and the health insurance that comes with a "real job" - for their art. Not to mention that seeing the world differently from Joe Normal sometimes means getting shoved to the fringe of society.In Robinson's case, he couldn't even find an art school that met his needs. He says department heads as Eastern Carolina Univ-ersity, Central Piedmont Community College, Appalachian State and the Savannah Collage of Art didn't know what to do with a freshman who, to show his accom-plishments, presented 300 slides."In class, the professors would be teaching other students painting and drawing and just let me go off by myself and do my thing."Thus he remains self-taught, reading voraciously about other artists, arranging shows, "working, working, work-ing, every day," and coming to terms with being Joe Creativity.
"Its hard, but no harder than being de-dicated in any field. The passion keeps me going. My friends and family know I don't have seconds in my life, only firsts at different times."I think people misconstrue a forceful drive as being selfish, but focusing on art is just who I am and what I do. I feel the constant need to express what I feel and see and think. I have an insatiable curiosity - every little thing in life fas-cinates me. I can't understand how people never stop to look at the wonderful moments all around them."After 11 years of concentrating on work, Robinson is finally realizing the rewards."I've seen the impact my work has on others. I couldn't care less if no one knows my name or if I'm in the room. I do care that I'm giving them something they didn't have before, that they've been transported to a place beyond themselves."It tells me that what each of us does matters. That's why we were created."As visually articulate as he is verbally, Robinson put together an installation last fall at Blue Pony Gallery that was named Best Exhibit of 1999 by Charlotte Magazine. "The Harvest" incorp-orated a multitude of symbols - wheat sheaves, recordings, env-elopes with textural matter, hundreds of keys suspended from the
ceiling by invisible filament and the ritualistic opening of a series of mysterious boxes - that spoke on some level to everyone who saw it.
"We're all more connected than we realize," he explains in Capraesque terms. "At any given moment each of us is making an impact on someone else. I want to make people wonder what the world would be like without them in it."Thematically, "Harvest" was in keeping with Robinson'sn ob-session with connection and impermanence. Under the influence of French artist Christian Boltanski, Robinson introduced light as an important element. Transparent material such as paper and gauze "thrills me - it takes the edge off what I want to say. I've gone from heavy, bold work to the exact opposite, to creating something that's barely there."
Robinson's "Small Works" consists of three illuminated photography portraits of people with intense gazes - yet an-other means of emph-asizing human inter-connectedness.Small paintings, prints, and Polaroid transfers by Brian Crean, John Graham, Jan Kins-lowe, Cindy Koopman, Dominique LeComte, Je-anne McGee, Lee New-man, Tom Ogburn, Nisa Rauchenberg, and Joseph Vorgity compose the rest of the show...........................................
JANE GRAU
VISUAL ARTS
Mikel Robinson's "The Harvest" incorporates a multi-
tude of symbols - wheat sheaves, recordings, enve-
lopes with textural matter, hundreds of keys suspended from the ceiling by invisible filament and the ritualistic opening of a series of mysterious boxes.
EVERYBODY MATTERS
.......................................
"Small Works": An Intimate View"
runs through July 15 at Blue Pony
Gallery and Press, 3202-A N. Da-
vidson St. Details: 704-334-9390
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm
