This collection is a series of bold drawings and paintings completed using acrylic paint that exist as a tangible by-product of my grieving process. As quoted by my former VCUArts drawing professor and large-scale watercolor artist Ekaterina Muromsetva as “really showing the brightness; the invasive nature of grief”. These works use fluorescent, vibrating hues and immediate mark-making to express that emotional intensity in a new light. They are intentionally contrary to common interpretations of grief and death that display darkness and melancholy. Instead, they employ my own visual lexicon developed to explore color, mark-making, and abstraction as a mode for material exploration rather than tied to traditional connotations of their form.
The physical act of making these works has helped me begin to grieve the loss of my dear Grandmother, Corinne or Wowo as we knew her, and my Auntie, Christine, or Ganna as we knew her. They were a response to my own need for a new sense of vibrance when I felt like the two biggest stars in my galaxy had finally burnt out. I needed light. I needed my family. I needed to keep busy
I felt it would be damaging to my mental health, and untrue to my taste for me to slip into a dark period of my work that only relied on dark, desaturated hues to express and work through my grief. So I employed my existing visual lexicon to create these works that serve to aesthetically visualize the sense of disorientation and flux I’ve experienced as a result of loss and to conceptually express the labor of grieving.
I base the compositions on old family photos; distorting the scenes into expressive planes of saturated, neon color accented by linear Payne’s Gray markings. Introducing washes of Liquitex’s cadmium yellow deep in broad areas while preserving some white of my substrate. I then introduce mixtures of quinacridone magenta, fluorescent pink, and titanium white into the composition, using the various tones and values to define the scene. Next, I add bursts of cool tones that vibrate against the warmth of the composition and begin to collapse the space as I add small textural flourishes and areas of painterly interest. I finish these works off by introducing stark, linear moments of Payne’s Gray; disrupting the swirling planes of color and balancing the scene through selective emphasis on certain forms. I complete these works in rapid succession, ensuring the sense of immediacy is retained by refusing to mettle with my brush strokes. I allow the unpredictability of my hand to shape later iterations of the same image by reflecting on the qualities I’d like to retain, remove, or emphasize. They are connected to my mono printing practice in this way.
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Deuces!!, acrylic on stretched canvas, 18in x 24in, 2022 (sold to private collection)
Deuces!! (detail) 2022
Deuces!! (detail) 2022
That's Uncle Sunny?!!, acrylic on stretched canvas, 24in x 30in, 2022
That's Uncle Sunny??!, (detail) 2022
That's Uncle Sunny??!, (detail) 2022
Just One Before Xmas, acrylic on stretched canvas, 16in x 20in, 2022 (sold to private collection)
Just One Before Xmas, (detail) 2022
Just One Before Xmas, (detail) 2022
Cookout at Lois', acrylic on mixed media paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Cookout at Lois', (detail) 2022
Cookout at Lois', (detail) 2022
Cuzzos in Paint, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
DressUp, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Study Buddies, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Granny Gang OGs, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Girls in the Garden, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Girls in Gowns, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Ghostriders, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Sunday Best, acrylic on paper, 18in x 24in, 2022
Cuzzos in Marker, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
I don't know her, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Uncle Sunny!, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Naeesah and Tigger 1, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022 (sold to private collection)
They're like four musketeers, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Naeesah and Tigger 2, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022 (sold to private collection)
Uncles!!, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Tykie 2, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Tykie 2, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Lets go fishing baby boy, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022
Groovy Trio, waterbased marker on paper, 5in x 7in, 2022