This fifth period of my art for the LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition features work from my “Colored People” Collection. Below are the first two paintings I created in this series, circa 2000.
What’s interesting is that in the 1970’s I drew a sketch that got misplaced, both in my home and in the recesses of my mind. Three decades later I re-discovered the sketch hidden away underneath a couch. In reviewing it, I was astounded to see that it reflected the “Colored People” paintings I was creating at the time.
There are over 200 paintings in this series. They started out primarily as small works---10 in. x 8 in.---but morphed into larger works of 6 to 8 ft in height. While their size varied, my message never changed: there is a universality among us, in that we are all people of color.
As you can see, the painting of the single person is a figurative design. I was trying to identify and show the many colors that can make up one individual. In the painting with two individuals, they appear like real people wearing masks, which define their many colors. This is one of my favorites in this series.
One other note, as you can see in both of these paintings I used a cursive variation of my first name as my artist’s signature. I’ll write more about this in my next post.
LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition includes the work of students from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. The exhibition will be on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through March 26, 2023, presented by M&T Bank, with additional support from organizations and individuals throughout the Western New York community.