Fete Lifestyle Magazine March 2024 - Men's Issue | Page 48

Your art reflects black culture and the environment surrounding black people. What inspired you to focus on that aspect of your work?

I’m more of a painter of history, I believe. I paint the world as I and those around me experience it. I paint mostly from photographs remembering to always to draw from life, too. I’m fond of old family photographs from mine and others. If they’ve got soul, they sing to me. It’s important to me to document our stories. I want to tell the stories of our existence here in America. It’s my intention to be as objective as possible and allow the image to interact with the viewer as much as possible without a narrative with me. I want the viewer to bring their experience to the image and let it tell the story. We all have universal experiences which we share. I just want to leave a mark to say we were here, this is how we looked, loved, laughed, lived, survived. These are the things we valued. I want to leave something behind for future generations to ponder on when we’re all gone.

Titled - My Country