‘natural sovereignty’ opens at moniquemeloche gallery
At moniquemeloche gallery in Chicago, artist David Shrobe reinvents classical portraiture with Natural Sovereignty, an exhibition of textural, collage-style artworks. The show is a celebration of family life and heritage within Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. This theme is especially poignant as the works will be the last to have been created in the artist’s longtime home and studio in Harlem, New York — next month Shrobe will vacate the apartment in which his family had lived for nearly a century. Within this bittersweet context, the artist weaves together spoken histories and family portraits, drawing from past generations to present a narrative that resonates with both the past and future.
David Shrobe in his studio | image © Jean Andre Antoine
celebrating heritage and community
Natural Sovereignty is set against the backdrop of David Shrobe‘s soon-to-be-vacated Harlem studio, and is displayed at moniquemeloche‘s Chicago gallery. It is a culmination of David Shrobe’s lifelong engagement with his surroundings. Through a careful process of collecting found objects from his neighborhood, he breathes new life into disused materials — tabletops, doors, molding, mirror frames, wood flooring, and textiles — by infusing them with layers of meaning and memory. Shrobe further emphasizes the backyard and garden as an extension of the home. These natural community spaces are described as being imbued with sustenance, survival, and resistance. Turn-of-the-century photographs of Black and Indigenous Americans are reinterpreted through a contemporary twist on the classical portrait. This way, David Shrobe’s work represents a declaration of autonomy and empowerment for people of color.
Natural Sovereignty is on view at moniquemeloche gallery in Chicago from February 3rd to March 23rd, 2024. Following the exhibition’s opening, designboom spoke with artist David Shrobe to learn about his process and inspirations.
David Shrobe, Gathering (detail), 2023. image courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery | images by Bob.
in dialogue with artist david shrobe
designboom (DB): This body of work was created in your Harlem studio, in the apartment that has housed your family for nearly a century. Can you expand on the significance of this space and how it influenced your creative process?
David Shrobe (DS): Using an apartment that has been in my family for 99 years as my studio has been truly inspiring. I think of it as my creative sanctuary and a historic site. I find so much beauty and inspiration from the neighborhood, people (past & present), and the leftover artifacts I find nearby. It was such a culturally rich experience living here as a young adult and later transforming this home into my art studio. I use the architecture, neighborhood, found objects, and lived experience as a contemporary archive. These continue to inform and direct my creative material process, which is really grounded in experimentation and discovery.
David Shrobe, Natural Sovereignty. image courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery | images by Bob.
DB: Your materials seem deeply personal, often sourced from your neighborhood. How do you navigate the emotional shift of leaving a place with such a deep personal history?
DS: There is a deep history in the apartment and neighborhood that I’ve been fortunate to tap into all these years. It’s hard for me to process the idea of leaving but I find solace in the thought that I take with me all the moments and experiences had in this sacred space. I definitely don’t want to leave but the move is unavoidable. However, I’m staying optimistic heading into this new chapter. I’m currently packing up years of items I’ve collected, along family memorabilia, and other items I’ve inherited. Over the years I’ve learned to let go of a lot, like when I finish a painting, I have to let it go out into the world. The work I make is a part of me, but I feel good about getting it out into the world to be seen and experienced by more people than just me.
David Shrobe, Natural Sovereignty. image courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery | images by Bob.
DB: How do you balance your personal history and memories with viewers’ broader interpretations?
DS: When my work leaves the studio and goes out into the world, it almost always gets interpreted in new ways outside of my original vision or intent. I think it has to do with my abstract sensibility and ways of merging figuration with abstraction that leaves the work somewhat open-ended. I love to hear about the different reads and interpretations people have of my work; it often brings about new ideas and other ways to experience the work, even for myself.
David Shrobe, Transition Mode, 2023. image courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery | image by Bob.
DB: Natural Sovereignty explores family life among BIPOC communities — what is the significance of assemblage and collage in expressing these themes?
DS: Natural Sovereignty is about the vitality of family life and communing with nature. The backyard and garden are extensions of the home, so it made sense for me to use domestic items such as flooring, doors, and tabletops to create assemblages that allude to both the interior layers of the home and to their exterior spaces. These different items become collage elements with their own histories and stories to tell. They extend the narrative of the work and push the physicality of the painting surface. I assemble the construction first and then collage layers to build the exterior and interior space where the narrative emerges from, and the gesture of figures creates a familial bond. These characters exist in otherworldly realities, where they govern over themselves and have total autonomy.