HAIRPOLITIC: Pomade in America Art Exhibition

The City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs announces the opening of the Kenya (Robinson) HAIRPOLITIC: Pomade in America art exhibition, which is scheduled to run January 16 – March 14, 2010 in the Thomas Center Main Gallery. A free public reception will be held Friday, February 12, 2010 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. in the Spanish Court during the Thomas Center 100th Anniversary Celebration.

Artist Kenya (Robinson) states “In our collective memory, black women have expressed political points of view (sometimes unconsciously), social class, imagination, and frustration, without saying a word.  We have found a way to create a unique standard of beauty that fuses African traditions, with our bittersweet reality as Americans.  Black hair definitely says something, but the actual message is undeniably linked to interpretation.  Black hair seems to engage a silent dialogue amidst of the many visual cues that define and redefine Blackness in the American context.”

In HAIRPOLITC, (Robinson) uses combs, brushes, picks, synthetic hair, pomade tins, gas stove eyes, latex sheets, transparency film, screws, nuts, and bolts to create 3-dimensional objects that are a visual commentary of beauty concepts. (Robinson) adds, “It is by using this common object that I hope the viewer can find their own meaning and see the connections that address and transcend the American concept of race.”

Kenya (Robinson) is an artist, writer, fashion/graphic designer, professional muse and Executive Performance Assistant (aka: hip hop’s first hype woman). Originally from Gainesville, FL she now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Kenya (Robinson), Veil1, 2008,
mixed media, 10” x 25”

Kenya (Robinson), LetMojoHandleIt, 2008,
mixed media, 12” x 12”