Tobi Coffee

It Smelled Like Earth and was Cold to the Touch

2023

Tobi C is a white, non-binary artist who grew up in San Diego and calls Columbia, Missouri home. Tobi holds a BA in both Structural Violence and Gender Studies from the Metropolitan University of Denver and recently completed a term at Columbia’s Resident Arts. For this body of work, Tobi found inspiration in the words of artists and theorists of color who call upon white people to employ a critical lens and look inward in order to address issues of racist ideology without indulging in the trappings of white guilt, fragility, intent, or denial. Finger-blended oil pastel, ink, and acrylic on stark backgrounds make up large scale compositions that balance qualities of illustration and realism. While the work is thoroughly conceptually imagined, it also holds evidence of a process embracing tension, rawness and vulnerability that is at once academic and intuitive.