SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Haines is presenting Bend Di Young Tree, an exhibition of new work by Stuart Robertson (b. 1992, Kingston, Jamaica; lives and works in New York, NY). Robertson’s first West Coast solo show, Bend Di Young Tree debuts a series of mixed-media portraits and scenes from the artist’s early life, focusing on the forces that shaped his formative years in Jamaica.
A graduate of Stanford University’s MFA program, Robertson’s practice is inspired by nostalgia for his birthplace, confrontations with the American dream, and fantasies about the future of the African diaspora. He paints, collages, and assembles images from Black life, creating striking, often resplendent images that combine materials such as aluminum, textiles, bubble wrap, glitter, and acrylic paint. The imprint of Jamaican culture is evident throughout his work, from the artist’s patois-inflected titles to his merging and mixing of discarded and recycled materials, which echoes the resourcefulness and ingenuity necessary for a growing nation.
Bend Di Young Tree, which draws its title from a Jamaican idiom about the malleability of youth to forces of influence, is anchored by a suite of four related works that the artist calls his “pillar paintings.” In these autobiographical tableaux, which masterfully integrate reflective aluminum, patterned woven papers, and colorful chiaroscuro, Robertson offers a look into the familial relationships, institutions, and vernacular culture that informed his early life and worldviews. We see him as a young child, sitting at the kitchen counter of his grandparents’ home in Aberdeen, rural Jamaica, and at his fourth birthday party, posing with his late older sister, Jodiann. Other works show the artist in school and at church, surrounded by peers and authority figures whose arms reach across the panels. Throughout his work, the artist hints at his complicated feelings towards these often conservative institutions, while still registering their influence.
Robertson’s pillar paintings are complemented by new self-portraits depicting pivotal moments of transition between boyhood and manhood. These works explore notions of masculinity and adolescence, as well as Robertson’s departure from Jamaica for boarding school in the United States. As his world expands, his compositions grow in complexity.
Bend Di Young Tree introduces audiences to Robertson’s practice through a deeply personal body of work — albeit one with a broad resonance. The exhibition reflects Robertson’s desire to examine and foreground his Jamaican identity — and the realities of the Caribbean experience, both good and bad — after half a life lived abroad. In this way, the artist invites viewers to reckon with the influences — cultural and kindred — that have shaped each of us.
