Ikard gallery

ABOUT THE ARTIST

A country boy from small town North Carolina, I first began my love affair with art when I was a preschooler. I remember how fascinated I was by my father’s pencil sketches. He was a natural artist who frequently sketched out things that count his eye on paper, wood, or whatever was handy at the time.  He did so for pure enjoyment; it never crossed his mind to sell or display any of his drawings. Growing up I often found myself doing the same thing. Whatever moved me emotionally somehow found its way on to paper. The highlight of my childhood was in middle school when I won first prize in an art contest. A key feature of this contest was that the winner and second place finisher got to turn their paintings into a mural. Working under the guidance my art teacher for the better part of three months, me and the second place finisher completed the mural in the main hallway of our school. The mural remained untouched for nearly a decade. Though I kept drawing off and on, I didn’t pick up a paint brush for nearly 30 years. My path back to painting was inspired by a trip I took with my best friend to South Africa in 2014. The country is teeming with incredible artists, young and old, from across the continent. Despite living under very poor economic conditions, most artists were resilient, passionate, proud, dignified, outspoken, insistent, and hopeful. Their love of their country and cultures, which included Zulus, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and Pedi, permeated throughout their art. When I arrived back in the U.S. after a two week stint there, I made a beeline to the local art store ( I was living in Miami at the time) and bought an easel, an acrylic paint set, several blank canvases, and a pack of brushes. The rest, as they say, is history. At present I paint mostly portraits in what many would describe as expressive realism. I also enjoy mixed media as it offers me the opportunity to embed and layer “meaning” onto my canvas. A social justice advocate, my paintings often reflect my love for what Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes would call the “lowdown” folks who are often the most vilified and scapegoated and the least protected and understood group in our society. But, alas, my art is constantly evolving. Thus, what is true today about my creative impulse and vibe, may not be true tomorrow. To riff on a famous Pablo Picasso quip, “I’m already elsewhere.”