Artist Statement

“An awareness of art history is a pertinent part of my process.  My desire is to use art historical precedent as a fluid source of reference rather than a fixed and linear projection. This allows me multiple new ways of perception from the inside, not as an outsider. Creating new allegories for my characters opens an unexplored space for the perception of black people, by whites and blacks.  By articulating personal history and African Diaspora-multi-threaded history, not precluding the Western canon of art, Show I locate myself in art history strategically deploying it anachronistically creating new connections and associations.

My Storytelling functions culturally and the tradition calls for expanding the idiom through improvisation, riffing, and rupturing. With Hip Hop and the Blues, there is the use of allegory, metaphor, and the modernist persona. Here are a few examples Kool Keith- Dr. Octagon, Howlin Wolf, or Sir Nose of Parliament Funkadelic. Classic literature and Hip Hop share the trait of veering between Folk and Epic instantaneously, from line to line even within a single line.  I build my narratives like scaffolding around Art History of paintings, Hip Hop, and personal history. The goal of my work is to build lore to new heights.”