50 Artists Magazine June 2020
OPPOSITE
When setting up
photo shoots, Robles
requests that the
models bring items
that have meaning to
them. For Alquimista
del Corazón (pastel
on suede, 40x29)
Zaira—who had tried
to get Tucson to
become a sanctuary
city for refugees—
pulled out the heart
she holds in the
painting. “Inside
were the ashes of her
brother, who had been
deported back to
Mexico and was killed
shortly after,” Robles
says. The religious
iconography behind
Zaira relates the
artist’s message in
a broader way to
“humanity, especially
at this time, and our
lack of compassion,
even empathy, for one
another,” Robles says.LEFT
When Reymon,
a local musician,
walked in wearing
multiple chains on his
neck and rings on his
fi ngers, Robles asked
him to shed all of it
except for the item
most important to
him for his portrait.
He chose the ankh,
which helped her
decide the language
for the symbolism in
the background of
From the Temple
of the Musician
(pastel on suede,
36x30). “The frame
piece directly above
him is inscribed with
a digital WAV fi le
of one of his raps,”
Robles says. “Most of
the other symbols are
probably pretty easy
to interpret, with the
exception of the small
bird above the queen
in the upper-right
corner. It’s symbolic
of a loss Reymon had
endured in the past
year. The man with
the bow symbolizes
his warrior spirit.”Alquimista del Corazón (opposite) all
appeared in her show last August,
which she titled “Nos Sums in
hoc Unu” (meaning “we’re in this
together”). Sadly, Fenlason died
unexpectedly on the opening day of
the show, which, ironically, addressedloss. “The painting’s subject was going through a loss, or
the person in the painting was no longer with us, or there
was loss of some kind related to the work,” Robles says.
The opportunity Fenlason had provided—and the
latitude he had given Robles to get personal again with
her artwork—pivoted the artist in a direction she longed
to pursue. Although she didn’t learn of Fenlason’s passing