Meet the artist: Rob "ProBlak" Gibbs
Within Caron Tabb’s newest show, “Humanity Is Not A Spectator Sport“, a series of rotating installations entitled What Now; Making Space will take place. As Tabb’s show focuses on the need to recognize privilege, accept progressive change, and actively create room within our worlds for others, What Now; Making Space consists of the artist’s removal of a symbolic piece of her own artwork in order to make space for each of seven other visiting artists’ works. Over the course of seven weeks, artist and participant Meclina plans to install her curated rotation – an exhibition-within-an-exhibition – showcasing this series of featured works, week by week.
What Now; Making Space not only features works by a variety of artists but gives an opportunity for networking career growth. Through a weekly artist blog feature and online artist talk, each will be highlighted and given the opportunity to more fully explain and engage with the Boston area community. They will also be able to engage with each other through an artist-only event formulated to offer a space for authentic and transparent conversations regarding the challenges of the art world. Each of these artists has a unique vision of the world and a message they present through their artwork, and we are both excited and thankful to have them here in the gallery.
Rob "ProBlak" Gibbs is the third of seven visiting artists included among the What Now; Making Space lineup. His work will be on display from December 3rd through the end of the exhibition.
With the tagline 'Grow On Flow On', the artist's website gives us a look into Gibbs's background and work as a creator in Boston and beyond:
Rob “ProBlak” Gibbs is a visual artist and organizer who has transformed the cultural landscape of Boston through graffiti art since 1991.
Growing up in Roxbury during the Hip-Hop Golden Age, ProBlak saw the power of graffiti as a form of self expression. Graffiti became a tool for him, and others in his community, to chronicle and immortalize their culture and history. For ProBlak, graffiti acts as a contemporary form of hieroglyphs, a way to document and pay homage to underserved, underhead communities in the city. His vision- to beautify the predominantly black and brown communities of Boston- is a driving force behind his artistic practice.
Beyond artistic practice, ProBlak envisioned graffiti and hip-hop as avenues to reach and educate the youth of the city. In 1991, he co-founded Artists For Humanity, an arts non-profit that hires and teaches youth creative skills, ranging from painting to screen printing to 3-D model making. For the past 29 years, ProBlak has mentored and guided countless youth at AFH as they set sail on their artistic endeavors. He’s proud to continue his work as AFH’s Paint Studio Director.
With a strong focus on arts education, ProBlak has conducted mentoring workshops for Girls, Inc., The Boston Foundation, Boston Housing Authority, and Youth Build, Washington, DC. He served as a guest lecturer at Northeastern University for their “Foundations of Black Culture: Hip-Hop” course. He was the curator for BAMS Fest’s “Rep Your City” exhibition in 2019.
ProBlak is the recipient of a number of awards, including the 2006 Graffiti Artist of the Year award from the Mass Industry Committee and the Goodnight Initiative’s Civic Artist Award. In 2020, he was honored with the Hero Among Us award by the Celtics, Boston’s NBA team and he was featured in a segment on NBC. His work has been covered in publications like 90.9 WBUR, the Boston Art Review, Boston Magazine, the Bay State Banner and the Boston Globe.
SoWa's winter market and festivities begin December 3rd and run throughout the week. During your trip out, make sure to visit Gibbs’s work in-person while it is on view in the gallery this weekend in What Now; Making Space, an exhibition-within-an-exhibition of Caron Tabb’s show, “Humanity Is Not A Spectator Sport”. Keep an eye out for upcoming Artist Talks, as well as gallery and related community events. Please visit our website www.beacongallery.com for a full calendar and more info.
To view more of Gibbs's work, visit his website at www.problak.com and follow him on instagram @problak
For more information or to contact the gallery directly, please direct inquiries to contact@beacongallery.com