AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM
As a bi racial black individual, my experience is a complex tapestry woven from threads of identity, belongings, experiences, and societal perception. Navigating on both sides of the white picket fence, being black and white. In a country that often reduces individuals to singular narratives, I find myself navigating a landscape that is both familiar and foreign. My artwork reflects the duality of my existence, caught between worlds, yet fully immersed in the richness and struggles of black culture. Reclaiming my space as a pivot for my community, and creating narratives the viewer can see themselves in.
VOTER COASTER
RUN
CALL HIM DARIAN, BUT HE IS REALLY YOUR DAD
THE HILL
NO MORE WEIGHT
AMERICA'S GRIP 1
AMERICA'S GRIP SERIES
INSTALLATION
BLACK EUPHORIA
As a queer Black man, the erotic worlds I occupy blur the lines between pleasure and fear. Visualizing these contradictory phenomena are at the center of my artistic practice. Poet and activist, Essex Hemphill once recognized this phenomena when he spoke about the “dangerous places black gay men are often willing to go in the name of love or desire.” Exploring underground parties, intimate backstage rooms, boudoirs, or other spaces overflowing with lust, risk, pain, and pleasure has called me to envision a sexually liberated world.As a painter, I employ ethnographic methods in which I interview subjects from my community and explore issues such as: homophobia, transphobia, homicides, suicide, abuse, HIV Awarness, and police brutality. In these queer utopias, trauma doesn’t define the subjects, but rather deepens their experience of pleasure. My work has allowed me to explore the dangers of queer life through a lens of empowerment that turns the erotic into a celebratory black moment, giving the viewer something in return: a vision of sexual revolution.