Bryce Olen Robinson

Site specific installation at The Schmidt Art Center, Belleville, Illinois.

2023

Reconstructed grain bin, Mississippi river drift wood, scaffolding system, original audio/video, projection mapping,

FLOOD

Peering out the window of my parent's Toyota Camry, the once familiar Chain of Rocks landscape is completely unrecognizable. We are taking the Highway 270 bridge over the swollen Mississippi River. Below us, the levee is breached, the shoreline has been swallowed up, farmers' fields are drowned, and debris litters the water's churning surface. My favorite towering "river castles" (a pair of historic water treatment intakes) are submerged to their necks. It's as if the castle moat has come alive and threatens to consume the fortress it once defended. Mom gasps and points; below us, an array of enormous grain bins are barely visible. Only their gleaming galvanized caps peek above the muddy waterline. I was six years old, and this scene from the Great Flood of 93' was one of my first indelible memories.

Thirty thousand square miles were flooded in 1993, making the Great Flood one of U.S. history's most devastating natural disasters. That year, rising water caused $15 billion in damages, which translates to approximately $30 billion in today's dollars. It's been 30 years since the 49.5-foot crest of that terrible "100-year flood". A mere 26 years later, the region endured a second "100-year flood," cresting shy of 45 feet in 2019.

In the last three decades, man-made climate change has gone from inconvenient truth to palpable crisis. Due to carbon pollution, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods have increased in frequency and intensity. Amid these escalating environmental crises, our society is beginning to realize the profound impact of our actions on the planet. Whenever I drive over the Chain of Rocks Bridge, I am taken back to that unforgettable day when I witnessed the devastating power of the Mississippi River. FLOOD is an attempt to make that memory tangible, haunting, and urgent – we don't have much time.

Image credit - Dawn Blum

(336” x 22” x 90”) 2021

laboratory stoppers, plywood, dye, enamel, fasteners

The site-specific installations in the exhibition Transmission Lines were largely created during the COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing as a coping mechanism for the artist to deal with uncertainty and isolation. As Robinson explains:

”Like a pilot circling, it began as a holding pattern. A way to keep the hands and mind occupied while waiting for something on the ground to change. ‘Non-essential’ I gave myself the job of tending vats of dye in the backyard... yellow, red, green, black and blue. For months I processed cork and wood through the vats. Every day witnessing material transformation while everything around me seemed to deteriorate or stay the same.

My pattern expanded into a series of discreet month-long operations. Reclaiming lumber, ripping boards, sanding, shaping, chamfering, gluing, and painting. Each a distraction from the world and a private world unto itself. At the outset of each phase I would transform my studio and re-cast my mindset for the task at hand. While much of my work employs units at a large scale, this process was unique in its obsessive nature. Keeping my hands and eyes engaged, holding the
pattern, trying to not look at the ground.

These are meditations on our ongoing public health tragedy. Whether you lost a loved one or simply felt lost, we have all been touched by Covid-19. If we hope to overcome such existential threats to our global community we must become more than simply the sum of our parts. I held each of these materials countless times throughout the pandemic and in doing so they helped hold me together. I would like to thank St. Louis Lambert Airport, Via Partnership, my community, my family, my shop crew and Maria for helping me finally land the plane.”

Acrylic and images on Butler grain bin door
2023
Bryce Olen Robinson
16" x 16" x 1"

Private collection

(276” x 9” x 84”) 2021

laboratory stoppers, plywood, dye, enamel, fasteners

The site-specific installations in the exhibition Transmission Lines were largely created during the COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing as a coping mechanism for the artist to deal with uncertainty and isolation.

As Robinson explains:”Like a pilot circling, it began as a holding pattern. A way to keep the hands and mind occupied while waiting for something on the ground to change. ‘Non-essential’ I gave myself the job of tending vats of dye in the backyard... yellow, red, green, black and blue. For months I processed cork and wood through the vats. Every day witnessing material transformation while everything around me seemed to deteriorate or stay the same.

My pattern expanded into a series of discreet month-long operations. Reclaiming lumber, ripping boards, sanding, shaping, chamfering, gluing, and painting. Each a distraction from the world and a private world unto itself. At the outset of each phase I would transform my studio and re-cast my mindset for the task at hand. While much of my work employs units at a large scale, this process was unique in its obsessive nature. Keeping my hands and eyes engaged, holding thepattern, trying to not look at the ground.

These are meditations on our ongoing public health tragedy. Whether you lost a loved one or simply felt lost, we have all been touched by Covid-19. If we hope to overcome such existential threats to our global community we must become more than simply the sum of our parts. I held each of these materials countless times throughout the pandemic and in doing so they helped hold me together. I would like to thank St. Louis Lambert Airport, Via Partnership, my community, my family, my shop crew and Maria for helping me finally land the plane.”

( 15” x 15” x 3” ) 2023

Stoneware, glaze, oxides

Private collection

(40’ x 25’ x 13’ ) 2017

Site specific installation for the City of Chesterfield, Missouri
Galvanized steel, Pyrex glass, power and light

(58” x 10” x 14.5”) 2022

Trombone, three 12 volt truck horns, 18 volt drill battery, 3D print, electrical wire, fasteners, manual switch, remote switch, adhesive, enamel, bipod, perforated steel, police light, scope

The series Irreverent Instruments was born of the January 6th Insurrection. Adulterated by technology and controlled remotely, these storied instruments of American expression now only produce a tone-deaf din.

Joint Strike Fighter for Ferguson / Joint Strike Fighter for Father

(14’ x 4’ x 11’) 2020

Steel & enamel

(60” x 40” x 80”) 2022

Tuba, 12 volt truck horn, 18 volt drill battery, 3D print, electrical wire, fasteners, manual switch, remote switch, adhesive, enamel, tripod, strap, perforated steel, American flag

The series Irreverent Instruments was born of the January 6th Insurrection. Adulterated by technology and controlled remotely, these storied instruments of American expression now only produce a tone-deaf din.

Wooden children’s toys, dye, North St. Louis County cancer data

A two-dimensional map of Ferguson, Missouri branded by people who have never been there.

(96” x 96” x 5”) 11.25.2014

Volunteers, hashtag brands, wood, flame

The collection of Maxine Clark

(35" x 26" x 28") 2015

Ferguson Fire Department Turnout Gear, Riot Restraints, Charged Fire Extinguisher

( 18’ x 18’ x 23’ ) 2015

Temporary site-specific installation in a decommissioned power-plant in South Bend, Indiana.

Perforated steel strut, laboratory glass, steel brackets, hardware, rubber gaskets, plastic ties, reclaimed broadcasting equipment, enamel, power & light.

(40” x 40” x 75”) 2015

White picket fence, mirror, black foundation

Steel & enamel

2020

Sign resurrected from the Ferguson unrest, steel, sandbags, power

(12’ x 3’ x 7’) 2015

( 4’ x 4’ x 11’) 2013

Laser cut steel & oxidation

Performance:

Reading the United States Department of Justice “Ferguson Report” to my childhood home in Ferguson, Missouri.

3.7.2015

Steel, aluminum, enamel

2011

The permanent collection of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, Ferguson, Missouri

First Covenant; St. Louis City & County, is a municipal blockade composed of the ninety-one individual municipalities of St. Louis County plus the City of St. Louis.

In the 1920’s race-restrictive deed covenants forbade the sale of white owned property to blacks in the city of St.Louis. These single-page legal documents would establish a lasting trajectory of racial segregation, isolation and white-flight in St. Louis City and the surrounding county.

Special thanks to: Dr. Colin Gordon, author of Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City.

*All map-pieces are presented to scale.

Broken glass extracted from riot ash + one thin blue serrated line.

2015

*Riot debris from two adjoining Ferguson businesses housed under the same roof. One was black owned the other was white owned.

Maquettes - Each base (11”x11”)

Constructed from the refuse of a mothballed toy plane factory.

Balsa wood, silkscreen, dye, graphite, charcoal, adhesive, fasteners, hardware

(10’ x 8’ x 4’) 2015

Flag of the City of Ferguson, amplifier, laboratory stands, captive breath

For Eric Garner

Steel & enamel

( 55" x 55" x 12' ) 2015

The Collection of Michael Palmer St. Louis, MO

Laser cut steel & enamel

( 50” x 50” x 9’ ) 2014

Emergent Behavior is a reflection on Emergence Theory’s view that complex systems are the result of many simple interactions. Simple ring units are organized in such a way that, as we walk around them, they create their own complexity of shadow, balance, strength and light. I am interested in the generation of intelligent objects through the interaction of simple yet elegant component parts.

On Rising Hive, 2014

The work before you has been heavily influenced by the theory of emergent behavior. At the most fundamental level emergence is the rise of “smart” systems through the interaction of relatively “dumb” constituent parts.

I am drawn to create structures and systems that appear to be directly governed by the properties of their individual parts. For me objects like Rising Hive embody an ideal system where all participating elements have a stake in the success or failure of the collective work. It is through a great multitude of individual choices and interactions that I begin to see the order that draws us together as one society, one hive, one being.

( 44" x 44" x 9' )

Steel & oxide

The collection of Jeske Sculpture Park, Ferguson, Missouri

Through public practice I seek to develop innovative projects that expand the collaborative agency of artists and communities.

I developed a public sculpture park in partnership with the City of Ferguson, Missouri. After two years of community engagement (meetings, research, presentations, planning and legislation) the park has become a reality. The seven-acre Jeske Sculpture Park features rotating exhibitions of contemporary sculpture framed by grassy hills, creeks, park-lamps, and paved walking paths. Our first outdoor exhibition of 10 works opened on June 14, 2014. This Inaugural exhibition featured the work of 8 artists representing 7 states from across the United States. As the President and founder of Jeske Sculpture Park and a Ferguson native, its physical and institutional development is an ongoing focus.

In light of recent events within the Ferguson community, I believe that engaging public images, objects and community-based projects will be an essential component in the healing of the Ferguson community. I look forward to, expanding and enhancing the role of Jeske Sculpture Park as a place of peace, contemplation and open dialogue for residents and visitors alike.

Featured Here:

Sculptural Vessel

Wood Fired Stoneware

2010

Bill Kremer

Cassopolis, Michigan

Antenna I

Glazed Ceramic

2014

Snail Scott

Edwardsville, Illinois

Empty Baskets

Cast Iron, Wood

2008

Elizabeth Kronfield

Holley, New York

Articulator

Welded Steel

2010

Andrew Light

Lexington, Kentucky

My Own Private Birmingham

Cast Iron, Steel

2005

Matthew Wicker

Holley, New York

Somewhere

Welded Steel, Cast White Portland Cement

2010

Garrett Krueger

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Temple XVIIII

Steel

2004

Austin I. Collins

Notre Dame, Indiana

Jeske Sculpture Park, Creative Infrastructure

Cast Iron, 2014

Bryce Olen Robinson

Ferguson, Missouri

Makers & Takers

Steel, Punch Cards, Enamel, Wood

2014

Bryce Olen Robinson

Ferguson, Missouri

Hometown Hive

Oxidized Steel

2014

Bryce Olen Robinson

Ferguson, Missouri

I.P.H. Kinloch Community Arts Initiative, Kinloch, Missouri

The Institute for Progressive Humanities (IPH) is an ongoing community based art project and the collaborative identity of artists Darrick Byers and Bryce Robinson. IPH was conceived as a sort of pop-up art not-for-profit that forms temporary partnerships with existing organizations to tackle ambitious and evolving community projects.

Our most significant IPH initiative to date was a year-long project in partnership with the Kinloch Learning Center, a not-for-profit that provides enrichment and programming to the children, adolescents and teenagers of the Kinloch community. The City of Kinloch was founded as the first all-black city in the state of Missouri. With less than 250 residents remaining in a city that was once home to 7,000, Kinloch’s residents continue to be victims of ongoing racial and economic isolation. After nine months of research and preparation, IPH partnered with the Kinloch Learning Center (KLC). Our collaborative overhauled the KLC summer-camp curriculum, built and maintained an organic garden, installed a 1.5-acre nature trail, and rescued KLC mascot “Fred the dog”. The rich history of the Kinloch community was incorporated throughout all aspects of the engagement.

Mild steel, stainless steel and enamel

( 10’ x 4’ x 3’ ) 2011

The permanent collection of the City of Granite City, Illinois

The Greenspace Project:

In the fall of 2007 I identified an under-utilized and derelict site on the campus of St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley as a site for potential remediation and future exhibition programming. I was granted funding for remediation and the creation of student exhibition space. Weeds were chopped down, concrete pads were poured, and 10 (6’x4’) panels were installed.

Today visual art students at the campus may propose and paint temporary murals and create outdoor installations for the site throughout the academic year. The space has been in continuous use since the first collaborative mural was painted by artist Michael Shultis and myself in 2008.

First mural: Hive Form, created by Bryce Olen Robinson and Michael Shultis. 10 panels 4’x6’ each, acrylic and wash on raw pressure-treated plywood.

( 5.5' x 3' ) 2008

Double weave structure and ceramic ribs

( 3' x 8' x 35" ) 2008

103 High-fired stoneware vertebra, latex, fabric, fiber-reinforced plastic

Each 5’5” x 3’ (2007)

Charcoal, gesso, calcium carbonate, and grease on paper

114” x 22” x 50” (2008)

Stoneware ceramic ribs, inverted ladder, steel bar, heat-shrink tube

Site specific installation (dimensions variable)

Weeping white mulberry, rope, projection, matches, trouble light

Stoneware, found rope, shackle, steel, cable, rubber

2008

4' x 3' x 27" (2007)

Cardboard, ship rope, wood, casters

2’ x 2' x 10’ (2006)

High-fired stoneware

A selection of early observational works.

Selected student works from Foundry, Metal Sculpture, Wood Sculpture, Sculpture II, 3D Design, 2D Design and multi-level Ceramics.