About Gena

Born in Macon, Georgia and raised in Tifton Georgia, Gena Brodie Robbins attended the University of Southern Maine and graduated with a BFA in Art Education in 1995 from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and an MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art & Design. Prior to attending graduate school at SCAD, Brodie refined her skills in fine art through many workshops held at The Scottsdale Artists’ School in Scottsdale, Arizona, and The Art Students’ League in New York City.

While attaining her Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2005, she was awarded the New York Studio Space Scholarship held at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in N.Y., New York, and internships at the Triangle Artist Workshop in Brooklyn and Exit Art Gallery in New York City.

Once Brodie completed internships in New York, and graduated from SCAD, Brodie then co-founded and directed Hollingsworth Gallery in Palm Coast, Florida curating international and national shows that exhibited world renown artists such as Ilker Yardimski, Patrick McGrath Muniz, Matthew Litteken, and Greg Fugua. While in Florida, Brodie was awarded the Florida Artist’s Group’s Richard Dean Andruk Award curated by Sam Gilliam.

Eventually returning to Savannah, Ga., Brodie joined the foundations department, teaching drawing and design courses at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. She also worked for Unclaimed Freight Productions and Meddin Studios creating portraits of Lucy Stubbs (Jamie Alexander), Christmas Moultrie (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and other props for the feature film, “Savannah” directed by Annette Heyward-Carter.

Brodie is mostly known for her large scale mixed media works investigating the ephemeral states of existence through the application of bold aggressive strokes of color and the washing out and bringing back of essential imagery. Brodie has exhibited in China, France, and the U.S. and is widely collected. Selected solo and group exhibitions include: The Leepa-Rattner Museum in Tampa, Florida, The Phoenix Center for the Arts, Tifton Museum of Art and Heritage in Tifton, Ga., Valdosta National at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., Gutstein Gallery in Savannah, Ga., Savannah International Airport, Gertrude Herbert in Augusta, Ga., Terminus in Atlanta, Ga., Callanwolde in Decatur, Ga., The Quinlan Art Center, in Gainesville, Ga., and dk Gallery in Marietta, Ga. Currently, Brodie is preparing for a solo show of new works to be exhibited at the Quinlan Art Center in August of 2021. She currently lives and works in Suwanee, GA.

 Statement

Questions of persona, identity, and the effects of time, loss, and the transformation that follows is central to the content of my work. Change is constant, and the metamorphosis involved is filled with transitional elements that serve as both direct and indirect means of transportation into new states of existence. These elements are explored through responsive mark-making; the result of moments spent in contemplation and query concerning the effects of time, life cycles, and various states of flux within these circles of being. 

Throughout each painting, repeated loops of painted, fluid lines, and aggressive drawn marks enter the picture plane. These invading lines are wiped out and brought back, covering and uncovering past decisions. Through this erosion of paint, a transfiguration begins. Transparent layers of color and lines reveal parts of earlier imagery, varying from recognizable shapes such as the animal or human figure to non-recognizable, even ambiguous shapes. This imagery, later in the painting process, causes an intuitive reaction to either accept, destroy, or alter its existence - symbolic to the destruction of a species, environment, loss of a loved one, or even the loss of self, such as with age or illness.

Swirling, loop-like forms invade the surface, similar to the way living cells are at times modified by manmade and natural forces. These processes are investigated through a variety of mixed media and mark-making tools, such as spray paint, rags, squeegees, paint, polymers, marker, charcoal, and graphite. 

Once the ritual of painting has been completed, an awareness of transformation materializes, and a new state of consciousness and understanding is reached.