Art offbeat but wholly holy

Frank D. Robinson's "Go 4 Self -- Lookin' 4 A Better Day" is among his works in an exhibit at Memphis Theological Seminary.

A hair pick, a used Q-tip, keys, aluminum flip tops, razor blades, and canceled stamps: artist Frank D. Robinson has tapped a waste-strewn urban milieu to create "Revolution Before Revelations ... Featuring Thug-Jesus!" on display at Memphis Theological Seminary's Great Hall through April 16.

Frank D. Robinson's "Go 4 Self -- Lookin' 4 A Better Day" is among his works in an exhibit at Memphis Theological Seminary.

With the application of glue, resin and acrylic paints, Robinson has created a series of in-your-face assemblages and transformed trash into scenes of supplication.

Consider it holy detritus.

"Revelations," a depiction of a Catholic service in which a vestment-clad priest reads the Gospel to his parishioners, marries glitter and other folk-art materials with classic church imagery. It's a complex scene, particularly when contrasted with the simple plaques bearing Bible verses, such as "Proverbs 28:26," which Robinson adorned with copper pennies.

Robinson says he combined medieval iconography with a folk-art sensibility to create this body of work.

"Folk art is a great source of material. It has the best energy. Just driving down the street, I'll get inspired by something. Little kids gravitate to it, because they want to touch it," says the 45-year-old artist, a Whitehaven native who received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Playing off a verse from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, Robinson has transposed the essence of the Christian message -- through God, anything is possible -- into a modern-day metaphor, told via a gritty environment where prayer is often viewed as a foolhardy exercise.

"Thug-Jesus Holla at Yr Boy" features an Obama campaign sticker, a Scrabble tile, and part of a condom box as the background for a pop art-styled image of Christ, who is adorned with a halo of beer bottle caps. Next to it hangs another "Thug-Jesus" portrait of a blue-and-gold Christ who wears a pair of flattened glasses and a razor blade halo.

"The thugs need their own personal savior," Robinson says.

According to Charlton Johnson, program manager for Return Beat, the seminary's theology and arts institute, Robinson's work provides a radical interpretation of spirituality within the framework of contemporary society.

"We're not just a place where students learn how to preach the gospel; there are other ways to address our faith," Johnson says.

"(Robinson) uses what other people would throw away and discard and calls it holy," says Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, who, as the director of Return Beat, has inaugurated studies of photography, hip-hop music, and Bob Dylan lyrics within a sacred context.

"Here at the seminary, the point is to open the religious dialog across traditions and denominations, to teach Christians and others to be good neighbors, and to see a whole and peaceful world," she says. "We're trying to fire the imagination of our students and their sense of justice."

Robinson's exhibit is just one component of Return Beat, which is free and open to the public.

On Sunday at 7 p.m., the institute's current artist-in-residence, jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum, will perform a Spring Salon concert at First Congregational Church at 1000 S. Cooper in Cooper-Young.

Frank D. Robinson, "Revolution Before Revelations... Featuring Thug-Jesus!"

On display at Memphis Theological Seminary, 168 East Parkway South, through April 16. An opening reception is 5-7 p.m. today. For more information, call 334-5847 or go to memphisseminary.edu

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