inside the studio

Painting Frederick Douglass; Finding My Voice in the Process

My commissioned portrait of Frederick Douglass, which is now permanently installed in the Portrait Gallery of the esteemed and historic Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachussets, came with a host technical and emotional challenges for my art practice. Working on this portrait was a life-changing experience for me, and I feel that I have been the greatest beneficiary of this commission, considering the ways in which I have grown as artist as a result of this project. For one, I have never considered myself a portraitist, at least not in the way that artists who specialize in portraiture would classify their practices. I have always been able to render strong portraits of people, but my strength as an artist has always been driven from my imagination, as opposed to live sources. 

Second, while I am secure in my knowledge as a “painter,” most of my career’s work as an artist comes from a strong drawing practice. I have negotiated the creation-space with both drawing and painting, but very few of my works are bold oil painitngs in the manner that is my portrait of Douglass. So, in the reality of my personal weaknesses as an artist, I was tasked to render one of the most signifcant philosophical voices in the American story of civil rights and freedom fighting. True to my practice, the preliminary sketch of the 6-foot painting became the final painting. My portrait of Douglass is an oil painting with a soild drawing foundation that actually plays quite a role in defining this painting as my work. Here, I was able to offer a remarkable snapshot of an inspirational Douglass in his youth, holding a wore-torn American flag, with Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope, in hand–And I was able to depict him with my uncompromised voice.

The Parliament Diptych and My Return to Invincibility

Between 2023 and 2024 my diptych Parliament was featured in three exhibitions: as a complete set in The Hope of Radiance, my solo exhibition at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Pittsburg, and as selected panels, Parliament 2 featured Mashonda Tiferri’s exhibition A Time was Had: Is an Awakening at the Maison Lune in Venice, CA during Art Week LA, and Parliament 1 in Dominique Clayton’s exhibition Culture Diaries at Rele Los Angeles. 

I used the occasion of these exhibitions to discuss how the Parliament diptypch was imagined; these works are today’s reflection on my archive of drawings and art practice from over 20 years ago. Parliament draws from a collection of mighty linear, figural forms that I created between ages 19 – 21. I always consider these years to be my invincible period as an artist. My imagination was wild, and I felt boundless as a creator. It is a rich archive of ideas and images. I’ve shared some with you in this post. 

Biological Psychiatry Experimentations

When I received the commission from the Journal of Biological Psychiatry (Yale University) to create six cover images for their inaugural initiative to center the stories of Black and Brown people, I began a series of experiements with different mediums. I knew that I wanted the images resonate as a series, collectively, and that they should stand out as separate from my other works. I also felt compelled to speak to the historical, spiritual and scientific braid between the artistic themes that were resonant in my studio practice at the time and the directed research topics discussed in the academic journal. 

I used ink, charcoal, graphite, and oil paint to create the final works. For me, the ephemeral qualities of some of the materials, such as charcoal, speak to the human condition at the core of all layers of spiritual and scientific inquiry. We are in a constant state of flux; like these works of art, we shed elements of our being daily as we decay. The concept is both haunting and beautiful. While the six final works have a cohesive appearance, it took some trial and error for me to decide on a “formula” for the series. The following selected works show the series in progress, in addition to other experimental works that were created as part of my process.