A SUH WI DWEET


On view at Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

February 4 - March 25, 2022


How often do we remember the importance of skin? As the largest organ of the body, it is our primary layer of contact with the natural and manmade world. The skin is a technology of protection - as much from heat and rain as from hate and racism. Endowed with symbolic significance, the skin is the material and metaphysical landscape through which we come to understand society’s deepest challenges and greatest possibilities. In A Suh Wi Dweet, Stuart Robertson represents Black life through dynamic epidermal surfaces to question and inform how we think about skin, our most intimate surface.


Robertson renders his subjects through a medley of lustrous materials, including metal, domestic debris, and textiles. The conglomerated paintings shine like bling, articulating material strength and resilience, alchemically turning discarded debris into spectacular portraits. They channel the desire of the gaze while dispersing its effects across the surface of abstracted metallic figures. In this way, the exhibition responds to the ambivalence of representation and the allure of being seen.


A Suh Wi Dweet depicts both Robertson’s biological and chosen family from a place of protection and care. Viewers may recognize the people captured in several of the portraits, as Robertson seeks to thank and to celebrate Black folks in Charlottesville who warmly welcomed him into their community. At the same time, recognizing them may be a challenge because Robertson depicts his metal-clad subjects only partially, framing not their face, but their hands, mouths, and other parts of their bodies. In so doing, he invites us to ask questions about the mundane, and extraordinary, inner lives of Black people.


- Luke Williams

What is a LEGACY? It's planting seeds in a garden you NEVER get to see. 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, paper, enamel and acrylic on wood

Self Portrait of the Artist III: Psychodrama, 2022

48" x 48"

aluminum, metallic bubble wrap, insulation foam, paper, foil, enamel, acrylic, earth and saw dust on wood

Big Man Ting II, 2021

48" x 48"

aluminum, metallic bubble wrap, insulation foam, textiles, glitter foam, paper, enamel, acrylic, and Rodeo Beach sand on wood

Pree Bee an' di young G! One hand cyah clap..., 2022

48" x 48"

aluminum, metallic bubble wrap, insulation foam, textiles, enamel, acrylic, earth and saw dust on wood

If comfort will lead to the weakening of moral fortitude, what about LUXURY? 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, cardboard, enamel and acrylic on wood

Dear Will and Paul, Brotherhood is not a small victory. 2022

48" x 48"

aluminum, metallic bubble wrap, insulation foam, textiles, paper, enamel, acrylic, earth and saw dust on wood

Promise that you will sing about me? 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, paper, enamel and acrylic on wood

Everyday contains all of history. 2022

24' x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, cardboard, enamel and acrylic on wood 

Communing with the ancestors is hungry work. 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, cardboard, enamel and acrylic on wood

To Derrick, Power Link link Power Figure, 2022

48" x 48"

aluminum, metallic bubble wrap, insulation foam, plastic, paper, enamel, acrylic, earth and saw dust on wood

We're all alone in this together. 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, foil, paper, enamel and acrylic on wood

You don't want zero problems, Big Fella! 2022

24" x 24"

aluminum, textiles, insulation foam, enamel and acrylic on wood

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