Accompanying the film is a song written and performed by Robinson himself. It’s a melancholic ballad, his voice cracking ever so subtly, the emotion evident with each note. Much of this work was born out of a loss that the artist experienced in his family, the gesture of punching a totality of feeling, mourning, and the survival of who is left behind.
The role of the body in these pieces is unmistakable. Even without the film as a pedagogical tool, the work lends itself to presence and absence. It is in the absence that we are greeted. Boxing gloves that were once worn now hang from works such as “Another Fist Full of Tears” and “A Fight By Any Other Name Wouldn’t Be FREEDOM” both from 2023, tied and weighted by nails hammered on the outer and inner palm of the gloves.
Robinson’s goal was to render the gloves useless of their intended purpose. Beyond his personal family tragedy, the artist also speaks about the Black experience, dating back to slavery. The exhibition is a glimpse into what internalized frustration looks like when it is externalized in a way that offers not only catharsis, but abstraction.