David Shrobe (b. 1974)

A portrait for today from Harlem-born David Shrobe, Protector (2018) perfects the union of classic and quotidian in compelling homage to historic image-making, Dada sensibility and the artist’s personal narrative. Juxtaposing studio and street aesthetic with an eye towards textile design, Shrobe liberates his collaged subjects from the rote tradition of portraiture by abstracting all but those features to which he calls attention. The present work highlights a mother with eyes towards the future, draping her robe over her child to shield him from harm. Strong but silent, she waits in her rich interior for elitist reality to break in – a reality with which Shrobe is all too familiar. While his materials reference the squares of quilting passed down from his great aunt and busted headboards strewn throughout his neighborhood, Shrobe’s technique takes him back to the realm of the Dadaists – critiquing art history and its constituents through their own established means. Protector reminds not only of what there is to lose, but also of what has been lost and since recovered: “I'm interested in the remnants, the leftovers; things left behind, and how through my manipulation they become in service to something else, something new that shifts and evolves their appearance and identity and might have the power to shift or evolve our perception of what we know or think we know” (D. Shrobe, quoted in A. Sargent, “An Artist Transforms Debris into Sculptures of Home and History,” VICE, 1 February 2017).