Jordan T. Robinson
Curator | Artist | Designer
Jordan T. Robinson (He/They) is a North Carolina-based artist and emerging curator, who runs a creative services brand to help the community. Originating from New Rochelle, New York, he and his family moved to Greensboro, NC where he was exposed to the arts at an early age. Thanks to the support he received from his family, Robinson cultivated a love for the Arts that later inspired him to attend North Carolina A&T State University, where he obtained his degree in Media Design. Soon after, Robinson enrolled in Savanna College of Art & Design to further the administrative skill sets he developed from producing exhibitions independently.
During his undergraduate years, got more involved with handling the administrative tasks involved in producing an exhibition for the art department, while producing work himself as an artist. After participating in, and setting up, a number of shows, one of Robinson’s mentors encouraged him to pursue a Master’s in Arts Administration, which was a balance for his passion for helping people, particularly other artists, and creatives. During this time, Robinson often collaborated with other art institutions as he was once an art teacher at the African-American Atelier, a curatorial assistant at GreenHill NC, and frequently shown in the student exhibitions at the Center for Visual Artists. He had also shown at other universities such as the Big SURS exhibition, held in High Point University every few years.
Robinson now uses his education and expertise in both Design and the business of Design to help other creatives establish their career through creative productions aimed at serving diverse and growing communities.
My work revolves around two main themes: navigation, and identity. In those themes, am interested in the balance of life, culture, social issues, faith, behavior, and environment in our realities and narratives. I reflect on the challenges that I face internally and externally in navigating my own reality and writing my own narrative. This influences the direction of my work as an artist. I create artwork made from mixed media and found object to illustrate and map out the seen and unseen realities that are a part of us.
My process is a dialogue between thought and feeling. When I paint, illustrate, or design, I begin with intuition and let my subconscious guide me. I often use color, texture, and unusual shapes to create abstract and non-representational forms. This is usually connected to my feelings, emotions, and inclinations. Then I add meaning to them by using lines, shapes, words, and marks. I try to find order and patterns in the chaos. This is representative to my logic, reasoning, and is connected to the analytical side of me. When I run out of ideas, I switch back to my intuition/feelings and repeat. In this way, thought and feeling clash and collaborate in creating these vibrant works that aim to build complexity.
Identity is mysterious to me. Someone once told me that it shapes your destiny, so your identity can either help you or harm you in the future. My work investigates how identity influences human behavior. We different layers that define who we are and how we act. When we make a decision, I wonder what was going on in our minds and hearts at that moment, what does that make of us, and how tied is it really to what happens to us and what we are “worthy” of.
Jordan T. Robinson - Artist Statement
Personal Handle: @jordant.robinson
