Artist Statement
My work examines my internal and spiritual worlds. Works explore loss, blessings, parenthood, self-doubt, personal struggles and successes, strengths of convictions, and faith. Images tend to be quiet fragments of these larger ideals addressed through the combination of photography, painting, mixed-media, and video. When completed, the silent reflections take on the forms of prayer, meditation, therapy, memory, and small understandings of being.
In these explorations, the photograph has always been a central starting point. I’ve always linked photography to memory and time. It is the beauty of the medium. There is a reality behind an image, even the false ones. Physical objects of light are projected and captured onto a surface. Photographs become a basis of truth that connects to my reflective process. Thoughts and emotions begin to evolve through the painting process. The use of pattern, opaque and transparent layers, texture, and color explore these abstract feelings beyond the photograph’s original intent. Through the contrast of reality and abstraction, I come to a place of contemplation and, at times, healing.
BFA, Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, AR, 1995 (Studio Art)
MFA, Louisiana Tech University, 1998 (Photography)
MFA, Louisiana Tech University, 1998 (Photography)
Carey W. Roberson is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Ouachita Baptist University, which is located in Arkadelphia, AR, where he is the gallery director for the Rosemary Adams Department of Art & Design Galleries, and teaches art foundations, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and other studio art courses. Prior to teaching at Ouachita, Carey was an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 2002 to 2018. At UA Little Rock, he served as Head of the Photography Program, BFA Coordinator, and Interim Chair of the Department of Art + Design.
His artwork integrates traditional studio media with new digital technologies and methods to create quiet personal narratives. Carey has exhibited in over 70 competitive, invitational, and solo exhibitions. His work has been exhibited at the University of North Texas, Ithaca College, Huntsville Museum of Art, Mobile Museum of Art, the Arkansas Arts Center, and many other universities and private galleries around the nation. He is a winner of the Arkansas Arts Council Individual Fellowship Award and has artworks in a number of collections, including the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, AL. Carey W. Roberson’s artwork has also been featured in the national publications of New American Paintings, CMYK Magazine, and the online photography magazine, Lenscratch.
Carey is represented by Justus Fine Art Gallery in Hot Springs National Park, AR.
Website: http://justusfineart.com
Website: http://justusfineart.com