ROBERT POKORNY

STATE OF MIND | November 10th - December 1st, 2023

NBB Gallery | Karl-Marx- Allee 85, 10243 Berlin, German info@nbb.gallery | + 49 (0)30 417 268 06

NBB Gallery is proud to present Los Angeles-based artist Robert Pokorny’s new solo exhibition, 'State of Mind' opening November 10th, 2023. Pokorny’s latest portrait paintings are filled with his recurring stylized characters depicted in his raw, bold, and energetic style. In these new works, the artist renders each painting through his strong use of color, line, shape and technique, while exploring an amalgam of the human experience with insight and humor. His bearded men and a white haired woman; tinted by California’s counterculture and rock ‘n’ roll, find themselves in various subtle psychological states riding a line between ugly, beautiful, solemn and euphoric.

While people can will themselves to having a better attitude, their true state of mind is often revealed somewhere (or everywhere) in their face, irrespective of social grace or claims to feeling the contrary. State of mind then, is not an aspiration but a truth. Eyes alone betray not letting go or truly believing, and metaphor won’t distract from the face that is worried, down, or in the pits. A singular focus and the appearance of being all in is in the eye, no matter how sanguine the rest of the face. Jurors and cuckolds can recognize in the eyes the moment when the truth hits, and a face adorned or obscured by hair, hands, joints, or lenses cannot hide presence in the here and now, acceptance, or belief. – Steven Tornatore