The Blue Bishop

Acrylic on Wood

27 x 19

$3000

My residence, my family, my studio location and my role as a muse and co-founder of Heath Gallery in West Harlem are all a part of my art practice and speak to the theme of the exhibition. This includes my ability to sustain myself as an artist and contribute to the livelihood and sustenance of other West Harlem artists.

My work is ensuring that our stories and images rooted in the Continent are not lost or devalued. My work also makes room for the abstract and what we cannot always speak aloud but know and feel from our ancestors and our own lived experiences. My art practice includes, along with my wife, raising children that have themselves become creative artists working across various art forms after being inspired by seeing me work full-time jobs but every night still coming home to create every day if even for just an hour.

Turning an abandoned brownstone into our home and then a gallery to show my art and also others epitomizes the theme of “Where Art Lives”.

My art practice is inclusive yet deeply rooted in the African Diaspora. I believe this is spiritual work intended to ensure that black culture remains deeply rooted and guided no matter how much the neighborhoods change. The work included in this exhibition is richly textured and deeply layered like the West Harlem community. It reflects families and individuals and the energy of both struggles and triumphs and gathering together and also being torn and disrupted yet resilient.