Gena Brodie Robbins

Hopeful, Abstract Painting

2020

Artist Comments
Multiple layers of transparent encaustic wax layered on birch panel. Gena worked each layer with oil bar and a technique called grattage - a surrealist painting style where a textured object is layered with oil paint and then the paint is scraped off to create an interesting and unexpected surface. A lone figure stands among repeated lines and drips, "proud and finding strength for more hopeful days," says Gena.

About the Artist
Gena Brodie Robbins was raised in Tifton, Georgia where both of her parents were teachers and coaches. When the family went to the beach in the summers, her dad taught her how to paint on sand dollars. She learned how to paint sunsets using the Walter Foster “How to” booklets at the local hobby shop. Gena was also trained at a young age to sing, however, she did not love Latin lyrics and had horrible stage fright - but she knew that she loved visual arts. So, she formally studied art at Valdosta State University with a BFA in Art Education, earned an MFA in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, and won a studio space in NYC through SCAD at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Gena began painting full time after receiving a diagnosis of Generalized Myasthenia Gravis, after moving from Savannah to Atlanta. Her current body of work stems from an interest in the Bay Area Figurative movement of the 1950's and 60's. She explores the various emotions and moods that can be visually created through subtle lighting in combination with the abstract human form. Her painting process involves an immersive experience, where she ends up practically covered in paint, and Gena says that her dogs and cat leave the studio from time to time with a bright green tail or white paws. When she’s not in the studio, Gena is teaching others to paint, enjoying a pot of tea while writing poetry, reading a crime novel, or hiking the Appalachian trails with her labs in the north Georgia mountains.

Words that describe this painting: abstract, figurative, figure, bay area figurative painting, german expressionism, abstract, people, non-representational, encaustic artwork, grey

Hopeful
Gena Brodie Robbins
Encaustic artwork on wood
Natural wood edges
Ready to hang
One-of-a-kind
Signed on front and back
2020
12 in. h x 12 in. w x 1.5 in. d
1 lbs. 4 oz.