Represented by BlackCommentator.com
For purchasing details please contact
Larry Richardson at [email protected]
Acrylic and pumice on canvas, 48"
x 36"
Giclee available, 30" x 30"
95 Giclee prints on Somerset paper
Signed & Numbered by the Artist
Small editions on all reproductions
Giclee Print Price: $ 1,200 USD
What is a Giclee?
A Giclee (pronounced Zhee-Clay) is a
very high end digitally produced archival quality print. Giclees
are printed on archival substrates, such as Arches Cold Press watercolor
papers, Somerset watercolor papers or specially prepared canvases,
with archival, light fast inks, at a very high resolution. Depending
on the medium of the original work, giclees are printed on paper
or canvas. Watercolor paintings render very well on the watercolor
papers, and oil paintings printed as canvas giclees have the rich
tonal quality of original oil paintings. Canvas giclees are also
coated with a special finishing media to protect the surface. Canvas
giclees are stretched and framed as one would display an original
oil painting. Watercolor giclees are typically framed behind glass,
as one would do with an original watercolor painting.
Artist Statement
Since I returned to painting in 1995
I have wanted to express the beauty in our African heritage. To
show the diversity that the Diaspora gave us in various other cultures
in the world. I have tried to present our culture as seen not only
in the context of the pain and suffering inflicted on us in the
days of slavery but to bring forward those cultural contributions,
and legacies we left in Spain, France, Italy and other places of
the world. Truly, that is what the Diaspora was about... the dispersion
of culture.
When looking at the many histories on art and researching
many of the famous old masters, our image is present even in medieval
times. Anti-Black racism in the modern sense was unknown in the
Middle Ages; Blacks were simply part of the human race.
In the latter Middle Ages there were even black saints
and one of the Magi was accurately shown as black. Most literature
on Black American artists is approached as though it was a form
of expression separate from the so-called majority culture. This
critical isolation in terms of art comes from the tradition of classifying
people and their culture by race. I feel the crucial issue is the
quality of work and it’s relevance to the society in which
it was created.
As an artist it is not my color that gives me the
inspiration or the capacity to produce a desired result, but the
ability to be sensitive to the various conditions of life that face
all mankind.
My first showing of some of these paintings was called
“Lost Images Found Paintings from the Soul” reinforcing
the importance of our culture in various parts of the world.
Three shows followed after that. One expanded
on cultural isolation and the other specifically was to present
a new approach to Afro-American figurative art merging the contemporary
and the classical forms.
The objective of my vision is to heighten the
awareness of those who view figurative images in my art and to stimulate
one’s thought and imagination. The end result is a series
of paintings and drawings that form cultural links between our past
and our future.