Carey W. Roberson: The States Project: Arkansas

Carey W. Roberson: The States Project: Arkansas by Donna PinckleyFebruary 21, 2018

©Carey W. Roberson, A failed lesson in gentleness. 42 inches x 27 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2009

For Day Two, I have selected Carey Roberson. I first met Carey about fifteen years ago through Gary Cawood when he started his teaching career at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. I found out that he had graduated with a MFA from Louisiana Tech. Carey is a great artist and teacher and still he’s teaching me. He is a wealth of information and willing to share!

Carey’s work combines inter-disciplinary media, polaroid, painting, and drawing which he uses to create powerful narratives. I have chosen two projects of his to feature! The first is called Illuminations which he combines digital files and his undeniable color palette! The second project and newest, I wish I would had hugged them more combines polaroid film, acrylic, graphite, and color pencil. He continues to amaze me!

Carey W. Roberson is currently serving as Interim Chair and an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He teaches a wide range of courses in photography, digital imaging, art foundations, and professional practices. His artwork integrates traditional studio media with new digital technologies and methods to create quiet personal narratives. Carey has exhibited in over 70 competitive, invitational, and solo exhibitions. His work has been exhibited at the University of North Texas, Ithaca College, Huntsville Museum of Art, Mobile Museum of Art, the Arkansas Arts Center, and many other university and private galleries around the nation. He is a winner of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Fellowship Award and has works in a number of collections, including the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, AL. Carey W. Roberson’s artwork has also been featured in the national publications of New American Paintings and CMYK Magazine.

Illuminated Lessons

©Carey W. Roberson, A failed lesson in faith. (L17:6) 42 inches x 27 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2009

©Carey W. Roberson, A failed lesson in discretion. 42 inches x 27 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2009

©Carey W. Roberson, They see new perspectives.  I see that they are way too high. 72 inches x 48 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2011

©Carey W. Roberson, It was a magnificent empire. 36 inches x 48 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2011

©Carey W. Roberson, The difference between what is and what should be. 36 inches x 48 inches Oil paint and archival ink jet on paper mounted on wood, 2011

I wish I would have hugged them more.

“Always the more beautiful answer who asks the more beautiful question.” – E. E. Cummings

Through a combination of photography, graphite, wax and paint, I am always looking at the beautiful and fragile content that is created by seemingly unrelated additive and subtractive mediums. Content is shifted through an integration of image, color, and pattern that can be recontextualized in layers upon layers of inquiry. The hands-on processes that I apply to my work, allows for thoughts to become unscripted and tangible. Once they are dried glazes of paint they become real, and the quiet fragments of personal thoughts, memory, and time are revealed. – Carey W. Roberson