Bluecoat News

14 Jul 2021

Press Release: Deborah Roberts to show at the Bluecoat, Liverpool October 2021

Press Release: Deborah Roberts to show at the Bluecoat, Liverpool October 2021: Deborah Roberts, 'After the thunder (RR)', 2019. Mixed media and collage on paper, 111.8 x 81.3cm (44 x 32in). Framed: 124.5 x 88cm (49 x 34 3/4in). Copyright Deborah Roberts. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo by Paul Bardagjy.

15 October 2021 - 23 January 2022

The Bluecoat, Liverpool is delighted to be hosting a major exhibition by award-winning US based artist Deborah Roberts (Austin, Texas, 1962). The exhibition, Roberts’ first major UK solo exhibition, launches on Friday 15 October 2021 and brings together new and recent work from the past five years.

Combining collage with mixed media, Deborah Roberts' figurative works critique notions of the body, beauty, race and identity in contemporary society through the lens of Black children in the USA. Her works on paper and on canvas combine found images, sourced from the internet, with hand-painted details in striking compositions that invite viewers to look closely, to see through the layers. In addition to representational imagery, the artist also makes text works in which she juxtaposes words in ways that expose racism and racial biases entrenched in language and linguistic systems. 

Roberts’ work is held in several collections in US based galleries and in the UK, but this is the first significant showing of her work in Europe, and includes both her text works and figurative collage. Roberts’ solo exhibition will premiere alongside a solo presentation by UK artist Rosa Johan Uddoh (born 1993, Croydon). Both exhibitions will be open to the public from 15 October 2021 - 23 January 2022.

Marie-Anne McQuay, Head of Programme at the Bluecoat says of the show:

"We're delighted and honoured to reveal that the Bluecoat will present the first major showing of Deborah Roberts in the UK, here in Liverpool. I know that her exquisite collage and mixed media works which interrogate identity will have deep resonance with the city. Her exhibition is the first in a series of announcements of upcoming programmes at the Bluecoat taking us from autumn 2021 through to summer 2022.”

Deborah Roberts’ use of collage reflects the challenges encountered by young Black children as they strive to build their identity, particularly as they navigate preconceived social constructs, the white gaze and visual culture at large. The artist investigates how societal pressures, projected images of beauty or masculinity, and the violence of American racism conditions their formative experiences, as well as how others perceive them. Simultaneously heroic and insecure, playful and serious, powerful and vulnerable, the figures Roberts depicts combine a range of facial features, skin tones, hairstyles and clothes; Roberts explains that “with collage, I can create a more expansive and inclusive view of the Black cultural experience.”

Deborah Roberts writes:

“I am very excited to be exhibiting at the Bluecoat in Liverpool this year. This being my first institutional show in Europe, my hope is to engage with new audiences and different communities and continue to explore how art can challenge notions of race, beauty and culture.”

Bluecoat is funded by Liverpool City Council and Arts Council England and supported by Culture Liverpool. Public Programme is funded by Garfield Weston.

Deborah Roberts’ exhibition is generously supported by Suzanne Deal Booth, The Collection of Kathleen and Christopher Loughlin and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

Contact Information

Notes to editors

About Deborah Roberts 

Deborah Roberts was born in Austin, Texas, USA in 1962 where she continues to live and work. 

Roberts' use of collage reflects the challenges encountered by young Black children as they strive to build their identity, particularly as they respond to preconceived social constructs perpetuated by the Black community, the  white gaze and visual culture at large. Combining a range of different facial features, skin tones, hairstyles and clothes, Roberts explains that, “with collage, I can create a more expansive and inclusive view of the Black cultural experience.” 

Roberts will have her first solo institutional exhibition in the UK at Bluecoat, Liverpool in October 2021. The artist currently has a solo exhibition and outdoor commission on display at The Contemporary Austin, Texas which will tour to MCA Denver, Colorado later this year.

Roberts was a finalist in the 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and her work was exhibited in the accompanying show ‘The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today', touring from the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. to Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, Saint  Louis, Missouri and Alaska State Museum, Juneau, Alaska (2019-2021). The Anonymous Was a Woman award was presented to Roberts in December 2018, a prize granted each year to ten female artists over the age of 40 in the USA and at a critical juncture in their career. She was a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Grant in 2016 and was an Artist in Residence at The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Florida in 2019. 

Roberts' work is held in the collections of Legacy Museum, Montgomery, Alabama, USA; Crystal Bridges Museum  of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA; Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK; Burger Collection, Hong  Kong; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; SFMOMA, San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas  Museum of Art, Texas, USA; Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh, UK/ American Patrons of the National Library  and Galleries of Scotland; ICA Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston,  Massachusetts, USA; Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA; Virginia  Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA; 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, Kentucky, USA; The Frances Young  Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA; Block Museum of Art, Evanston,  Illinois, USA; Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, Florida, USA; LACMA, Los Angeles, California, USA;  Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey, USA; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, USA and Pizzuti  Collection, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Roberts is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

http://www.deborahrobertsart.com

https://www.stephenfriedman.com/artists/51-deborah-roberts/

About Bluecoat

The Bluecoat is Liverpool’s contemporary arts centre, a working home for artists, and a place where audiences can experience art in new ways. Thirty artists, craftspeople, arts organisations and independent retailers make up the Bluecoat’s creative community, using studios, making facilities and workspace just minutes from the main shopping district, Liverpool ONE. 

With a city centre location and striking, Grade I-listed building, the Bluecoat has a dynamic programme of exhibitions and events, an award-winning participation programme, bustling café and bistro. Their legendary garden and independent shops are open year-round. For over 300 years, the Bluecoat has stood at the centre of Liverpool life, a champion of visual art and visual culture, and a place that is always inspirational and open to all.

The Bluecoat has presented significant solo shows of new work across the decades by artists including John Akomfrah, Jonathan Baldock, Sonia Boyce, Adham Faramawy, William Kentridge, Mark Leckey, Elaine Mitchener, Grace Ndiritu, Yoko Ono and Larissa Sansour. 

https://www.thebluecoat.org.uk

About Bluecoat

About Bluecoat

Bluecoat is Liverpool's centre for the contemporary arts, located in the heart of the city. We develop a diverse programme of exhibitions showing national and international artists, as well as home grown talent, alongside performance, literature, and heritage events, and we are committed to finding new ways to open the arts to everyone.

Based in the city’s most historic building, we’re a creative hub and home to around thirty artists, arts organisations, craftspeople and retailers. We’re fierce champions of regional talent and internationally recognised as an inclusive arts centre.

We see the value in directly connecting audiences with artists and in encouraging mutual learning and exchange. Our renowned outreach programmes focus on those who would otherwise face barriers to involvement in the arts.