DENA ROBERTSON
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BIO

​Dena Robertson is an artist that works with paint, dried grass, and ash collected after forest fires.  Her work addresses connections with--and disconnections from--the natural environment.  She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.  Robertson spent 20 years as a bookbinder before deciding to devote all of her time to her visual art practice.  She has exhibited widely, with solo and group shows in Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York and other cities.  Her work is in numerous private collections throughout the US.



Artist Statement


I work with paint, collage, blades of grass and dried clumps of sod. Fusing leaves of grass and eccentric shapes of the surface of grasslands into expressive abstractions, I produce artworks that not only "speak" of nature, but also incorporate actual natural forms. I find comfort in grass and do extensive research on it to inform my artworks.

My artworks are not solely representations. They also incorporate actual grass. They don't merely point to what I see. They embody it materially. By activating my compositions with dynamic brushstrokes, I make grass live again in art. I use my personal subjectivity and the beauty of my aesthetic practice to mysteriously re-animate "dead" nature (the French for still life is nature morte). In doing so, I seek to bring viewers into enhanced engagement with grass and, by extension, all of our increasingly threatened natural world. My work encourages us to re-value and enjoy our home planet.


​

CV

EDUCATION:         Maryland Institute, College of Art  Baltimore, MD
                              Bachelor of Fine Arts 1994

                              Indiana University, 1989-1990

SOLO
EXHIBITIONS:        Smell The Smoke, Gallery 825, Nov 2020, Los Angeles, CA 
                              Fresno Yosemite International Airport, 2019/2020, Fresno, CA
                              Keystone Gallery, 2019, Los Angeles, CA 
                              Studio 302, 1997, Baltimore, MD 
                              Sisson’s Gallery, 1997 Baltimore, MD


SELECTED GROUP
EXHIBITIONS:        “Slice”  Pence Gallery, 2023, Davis, CA
                               “Lines & Other Forms” Dodomu Gallery, 2023, Brooklyn, NY
                               “Fat City” Gallery 825, April 2021, Los Angeles, CA
                               Open Show, Gallery 825, Dec 2020, Los Angeles, CA
                               Why Are You Painting? Honolulu Museum of Art 2020, Honolulu, HI
                               “Indistinct Chatter” Gallery 825, 2020, Los Angeles, CA
                               Superfine Art Fair Miami 2018, Miami, FL
                               Keystone Art Space, 2017, Los Angeles, CA 
                               “Borders, Edges, Seams” Blackboard Gallery, 2017, Camarillo, CA 
                               Keystone Art Space, 2017, Los Angeles, CA
                               Open Show, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 2016, Los Angeles, CA
                               Juried Show  Gallery 825 2015, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Aurora” Gallery 825, 2010, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Gem”  Gallery 825, 2009, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Aurora”  Gallery 825, 2008, Los Angeles, CA
                               Venice Art Walk, 2008, Venice, CA
                               “Gem”  Gallery 825, 2008, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Gem”  Gallery 825, 2007, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Pure and Nimble”  Gallery 825, 2006, Los Angeles, CA
                               “50/50 Show”  Gallery 825, 2005, Los Angeles, CA
                               “In the Abstract” Gallery 825, 2005, Los Angeles, CA
                               “50/50 Show”  Gallery 825, 2004, Los Angeles, CA
                               “Three Painters”  1001 Studio, 2003, Baltimore, MD
                               “Art Meets Politics”  National Democratic Headquarters, 2001
                               Towson Center, 1996, Towson, MD            
                               University of Michigan  1994
                               “Beyond Boundaries” Juried Maryland Institute Exhibition, 1993, Baltimore, MD
                               New York Studio Exhibition, AICAD New York, 1993, NY, NY
            

AWARDS/HONORS:        
                               2023            School of Visual Arts Artist Residency  
                               2023            Kipaipai Fellow 
                               1994             Sidney Lake Memorial Award                                             
                               1994             Member of Search Committee for VP/Dean of Academic Affairs at the Maryland Institute
                               1993-1994    Reba Stewart Memorial Scholarship
                                                   Evergreen House Foundation Scholarship
                               1990-1994    Maryland Institute Scholarship                                             
                               1992-1994    Maryland Institute, College of Art admissions catalogue drawing featured



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