inside the studio

My commissioned portrait of Frederick Douglass, which is now permanently installed in the Portrait Gallery of the esteemed and historic Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, 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 it has caused me to grow as an artist. For one, I have never considered myself to be 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 representations of people, but my strength as an artist has often been driven from my imagination, as opposed to live sources.

Second, while I am secure in my years of 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 paintings 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 significant 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.