Rondo Residency

As I call upon Afro-Futurism in my work, what does my future world look like? How, as an observer of that future, can my art be an abstract representations of that world?

Portraiture, Process, and the Abject

The manipulation of surface equated to the disfiguring or even mutilation of the body and portraiture. Each red painting was developed through form first, then painting. This resulted in pieces that are equally delicate and bodily. Their deep red shading creates a visceral reaction, evoking images of organs. Their three dimensional shapes turn place them in the middle ground between sculpture and painting.

The following paintings are abstractions of portraiture, where the painting came first and the “crumpling” of canvas followed. Both stages are intuitive processes— where the history of the charcoal marks, shading, brush strokes, texture, and ‘image’ dictates what comes next. Process is at the forefront of these pieces as gestural drawings in the background bleed to the front and on the edges of unprimed canvas. Frayed edges, bent staples, holes, dripping paint, and more give evident of the artist’s hand. Reminding us that painting does not inherently have to be a delicate process centered around perfection.