Midcity, Los Angeles
Malik Roberts
To Suffer a Lick
Allouche GalleryMalik Roberts’ solo exhibition, To Suffer a Lick, presents a collection of thought-provoking works that invite viewers to explore their own sense of liminality and uncertainty. The exhibition features a range of compositions that are both dynamic and abstract, with each piece showcasing the artist’s unique approach to deconstructing and fragmenting figures. Roberts’ inspiration for this exhibition came from the pandemic, which created a sense of liminality in its own right, leading to a mental battle of waiting for the outcome. He spent a lot of time at home, which is reflected in the works, with subjects depicted in homelike spaces. Through his use of line, Roberts accentuates the emotions and perspectives he wants viewers to feel, creating an amalgamation of people, scenes, emotions, and his own thoughts and feelings to create each subject. The title of the exhibition, To Suffer a Lick, reflects the feeling of waiting for an opportunity while enduring uncertainty, encapsulating the sense of grace that comes with success. Roberts’s use of oil, oil pastel, and charcoal on canvas showcases his influences from Caravaggio, Francis Bacon, and Picasso, with a darker color palette highlighting a Caravaggio baroque style with a single light source. “The concept behind the show was based on liminality and uncertainty within myself and the works I was creating. Several ideas for his works were conceptualized through the pandemic, which was a time of liminality in itself. It was a bit of a mental battle, waiting for the outcome. A lot of time was spent at home, you’ll see a lot of my subjects reflect that being depicted in homelike spaces, because that’s what life was like then,” said Roberts. In regards to his process, Roberts expressed: “I wouldn’t describe my style as a collage, but more of a deconstruction or fragmentation of figures and subjects. I see a collage to be more of putting things together, and I more so take things apart to show a bit more of the inner workings of my subjects mind and feeling. The line work is used to accentuate some of the emotion and perspective I want felt by those viewing the painting. That’s why I use an amalgamation of people, scenes, emotions, my own thoughts and feelings to create a subject. It’s more about the different parts of a person’s psyche, what they may be going through or feeling. With my line detail I tend to highlight the more expressive part of the subject and showcase another layer to a persons’ personality.” To Suffer a Lick is a powerful exhibition that encourages viewers to explore their own sense of liminality and uncertainty, with each work showcasing Roberts’s unique signature style and approach to deconstructing and fragmenting figures. —Keith Estiler