In the Mind
of the Artist
Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Straight from the clay, the brush, and the soul.
“You sho’ is uglyyyyy!” - Shug Avery/Circa 1921
I have pieces that I don’t like to even admit that I created - LOTS OF THEM!
Hey, it happens (you know there are two letters you can place in front of the word "it" and then it would really get my point across, right?). You create something, you’ve spent time on it…it was all good as you guided its evolution. Then, you’re done - fin...
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SEE...What had happened was...
I do a happy dance EVERY TIME a piece of mine is collected, because it’s usually right in time to replenish funds that were depleted because of…well….life.
For many artists there is a battle between reconciling your survival needs against the potential for financial elevation with pricing your work. Believe me, I am EVER-THANKFUL for the kind comments that usually come from social media followers when they ask about prices. Generally, when they hear about my prices for pieces in premier collections.
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WAIT...I gotta be deep too?!
"I’ll tell you a little secret - sometimes it’s the very people who can’t tear their eyes from one of your works who create the story. Sometimes their perspective makes you appreciate your own work in a way you wouldn’t have seen until THEY expressed it."
I don’t normally present a riveting tale or life epiphany about the inspiration behind most of my pieces, folks. That’s because there usually is none. No experiences to share about my time during my artist’s residency - hasn’t happened. There are no anecdotes to share about a particular creative master I studied under. There are not usually labyrinthian depths I’m able (and, it seems, expected) to describe to make you connect to my work beyond the obvious aesthetic.
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I Make the Rules
In my world, I make the rules — and those rules are written in my spirit, inked directly from my soul.
The art world, as they have organized and defined it — as with all things in this society — is the pretentious, unwelcoming child borne of dysfunctional, oppression-nurturing parents. This is the reason why, despite a nation full of nearly supernaturally talented Black artists, we represent 1% in representation by galleries and gallerists in that world of art they created.
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Come As You Are
"Mona Lisa was simply someone's wife — not a queen, not a countess. Simply a woman, made universally intriguing only because a renowned artist saw beauty in her and decided to capture her."
Just as it was for artist Nola Darling, of Spike Lee's movie "She's Gotta Have It", it's the same for me. A European art buyer will likely tell you that your portraiture of contemporary Black people in everyday settings IS NOT SIGNIFICANT, HAS NO REAL MEANING — but that is not it. You know it and they know it.
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THE LESSON REPEATS...
"Some lessons have to be learned more than once before they stick — this is one of them."
"The lesson repeats until the lesson is learned" - I don't know who originally said it, but it is one of Kirk Nugent's favorite phrases to quote. So, when working digitally, you have to confront the translation from traditional mediums...for me, partic...
Read the essayMore essays coming — the clay never stops, and neither does the pen.