Come As You Are

The Sculptress September 18, 2026

"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."

— The Sculptress

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/collector will likely tell you that your portraiture and/or studies of contemporary Black people in everyday settings, that is not overtly attached to historical symbolism or past and present suffering and conflicts, IS NOT SIGNIFICANT, HAS NO REAL MEANING, CONVEYS NO MESSAGE...

THAT IS NOT IT...YOU KNOW IT AND THEY KNOW IT

The piece that inspired this essay

Her Name Is Raven

Twice-fired stoneware. Original one-of-a-kind sculpture. TM Sculptures & Clayworks collection.

Artists, do your art...no one is qualified to tell you how it should be done. Black always has and always will look spectacular in any setting.

They simply have not reconciled how they will explain to pretentious critics of their purchase/commission that the artwork above their mantle or sofa was purchased simply because they thought the Black subject was beautiful. The Black subject was, at the very least, intriguing. It is difficult for most of them to reconcile that they sat and marveled at complexions and features that cannot be associated with their own. As that buyer, how do you explain that when you know they won't "get it", if you've ever even felt it? Not my problem, it's theirs - if they're capable of rising to the challenge. The flip side of that coin - they may have willfully or subconsciously lived their lives discriminating against that very beauty in the most common of circumstances, and can now only admit to finding that same beauty fascinating and acceptable provided it's been "co-signed" as having value because the subject is depicted in a way and setting that will make the buyer and the viewers comfortable.

I have no tolerance for a critic who needs me to make up a fabricated, convoluted and prepared statement about my process, or the "deeper meaning" for a piece that I have created and am proud of. The simplest inspirations when depicting Black culture have left many with beautifully complex feelings. The deeper meaning, for me, usually amounts to "Because I felt it was someone I needed to draw/paint...I saw something there". Hypothetical round of the most pretentious, validation seeking, testing of your mettle line of questioning you may one day be subjected to when they can't process your explanation of the simplicity of your inspiration: "What can I learn from this piece?" You can, maybe, learn to be honest enough with yourself to admit that you like this painting of this Black woman for the same reason you liked the look of your wife, or husband upon first seeing them - because they were attractive, because something made you want to be closer to them, because they pleased your eyes before you knew a name, before you saw a family tree, before you could hope that they somehow contributed to an important moment in history. What message is being conveyed? That she is delicate and powerful simultaneously because her features dance with each other and you felt the rhythm the moment you saw her. How does she fit into the look of this exhibition? She fits because you're looking...because you're asking me about her right now. Because, baby, if there was nothing to her, you would have walked on by...you know it, and I know it.

Artists, do your art...no one is qualified to tell you how it should be done. Black always has and always will look spectacular in any setting.

For me, the significance, the meaning and the message is US...exactly as we are in whatever setting or circumstance that I'm inspired to depict.

Stop allowing them to make you feel that Black must always be Black in conjunction with their allotted purpose for us. Black is out here Blacking just because it does, and can...I want to capture all of it. And I will.