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.