Derek Roberts | artcare.at

I Didn't Come to Stay

DEREK ROBERTS

19. September - 04. Oktober 2025

I Didn’t Come to Stay is the truth. I Didn’t Come to Stay is a testament to the power of individual agency, movement and re-invention. I Didn’t Come to Stay with one style. I Didn’t Come to Stay as the person you thought I was or could become. I Didn’t Come to Stay in that interaction we had long passed. I Didn’t Come to Stay in anger or hate, and we all know what happens to love. I Didn’t Come to Stay in my conviction, I refuse to convict myself, I refuse to be a convict. I came for the dumb, the derelict, the unspoken, the illegible, the vegetal, the mushrooming release, but

I Didn’t Come to Stay.

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DEREK ROBERTS

Derek Roberts ist ein afroamerikanischer Multimedia-Künstler mit Sitz in Wien, dessen künstlerische Praxis sich über zwei Jahrzehnte in den Bereichen Poesie, Musik und bildende Kunst erstreckt. Seine Studien in Geschichte, Politik, Wirtschaft und den schönen Künsten haben seinen verschlungenen Weg über Kontinente, Arbeitsfelder und Lebensweisen geprägt. In letzter Zeit hat Roberts lebendige, kunstvoll gewebte und vielschichtige Werke geschaffen, in denen sich Formen auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen übereinanderschichten und durchdringen. Im Kern seiner Arbeit steht die Untersuchung der afrikanischen Diaspora, Sprache, der natürlichen Welt und der Kraft der Farben. Letztendlich strebt er durch ständige Improvisation und Experimentation danach, sich selbst wieder zum Leben zu erwecken.

Derek Roberts is an African-American multimedia artist based in Vienna with a practice that spans over two decades of poetry, music, and the visual arts. Having studied history, politics, economics and the fine arts has helped to shape his meandering path across continents, fields of work, and ways of being. Most recently, Roberts has created vibrant, intricately-woven and layered pieces on the verge of one thing or another. At the core of his body of work is an investigation of the African diaspora, language, the natural world, and the power of color. Ultimately, through constant improvisation and experimentation, he aims to bring himself back to life.