Morel Doucet Artwork

Morel Doucet

art | video | statement | bio |resume

mixed media | sculpture

Mixed Media

Nina Buxenbaum Artwork

Nina Buxenbaum

artwork | video | statement | bio

Artwork

Alfred Conteh Biography

Biography

Alfred Conteh (b. 1975, Warner Robins, Georgia) is a classically trained artist, who has practiced his craft for more than 20 years. After earning a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts from Hampton University, Conteh continued his formal education at Georgia Southern University; earning a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts.

As an African American artist, Conteh sheds light on the current realities of African American people; by bringing their stories and experiences to the forefront. Conteh’s creative techniques range from paintings to drawings and sculptures to assemblage works. His artwork can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.

In 2018, Conteh was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) to create a portrait of film director, producer, and screenwriter Ryan Coogler.

The portrait titled Home Team is featured in the traveling exhibit Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth. The exhibit pays tribute to African American changemakers for their outstanding legacy and contributions.

Conteh’s work in the permanent collections of the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR; Bajeel Art Foundation, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Museum of Arts and Sciences Permanent Collection, Macon, GA; Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, Ashbury, NJ; Tubman Museum Permanent Collection, Macon, GA; Georgia Southern University Permanent Collection, Statesboro, GA; Georgia Southwestern University Permanent Collection, Swainsboro, GA; Hammonds House Museum Permanent Collection, Atlanta, GA; United Talent Agency, Beverly Hills, CA; and United Way Corporate Collection, Atlanta, GA

image courtesy of terrellclark.com

Delita Martin Artwork

Delita Martin

artwork | video | statement | bio | resume


Alfred Conteh

As an African American artist, Alfred Conteh sheds light on the current realities of African American people; by bringing their stories and experiences to the forefront. Conteh’s creative techniques range from paintings to drawings and sculptures to assemblage works. His artwork can be found in public and private collections throughout the world.

artwork
“Elijah (The Boxer, The Bouncer)”
60 x 60 x 2.5 ″
Acrylic and Atomized Bronze Dust on Canvas

Alfred Conteh Artist Statement

Statement

The paintings in this series are visual explorations of how African diasporal societies in the South are fighting social, economic, educational and psychological wars from within and without to survive. The honest and false narratives of history embodied in this series are primarily personified in patinated colossuses that symbolize the culture and realities of the populations they tower over, and the battles we’ve fought and continue to fight. We are at war on two fronts.

The extensions of the “Two Fronts” series are comprised of portraits that investigate the catalytic war that atmospheric conditions constantly wage on natural and manmade surfaces and structures. I’m using metal powders, chemical compounds, acrylic and dry media on paper and canvas to recreate those aging and weathering effects on the faces of people, which are reminiscent of the erosive conditions that patina the lives of black people every day, everywhere.

The camoflauge is emblematic of how america has systematically conditioned African americans to accept and blend into an environment that’s hostile and harmful to our people. Despite our intimate knowledge of the conditions that beleaguer the vast majority of black people, many of us knowingly opt to “hide in plain sight” for fear of being recognized as “anti-status quo” and getting punished by the same systems that oppress us.

artwork: Chrishelle, 2017, Acrylic, charcoal and atomized steel dust on paper, 30″h x 22″w

Tawny Chatmon Video

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Never Your Burden to Carry by Tawny Chatmon
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Best by Tawny Chatmon
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But She Already Knew They Were More Precious Than all the Jewels and Gold in the World" - T. Chatmon
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Tawny Chatmon Inheritance
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One to Watch: Tawny Chatmon
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NMWA presents "Tawny Chatmon: “Sanctuaries of Truth, Dissolution of Lies" #art #exhibition #museum
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Tawny Chatmon

For those who encounter my work, I want them to stop, I want them to pay attention, I want them to not be able to look away
-Tawny Chatmon

Through the lens of photography and the layering of mixed media materials, artist Tawny Chatmon has captured the regality of Black youth. Inspired by the aesthetics of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt’s Golden Phase, Chatmon’s subjects are often depicted in period dresses and then layered with a mixed media of gold leaf, acrylic paint, and detailed with precious and semi-precious jewels. To add a spiritual presence to her subjects, Chatmon employs the Byzantine art aesthetic of elongating their bodies and dress. Consequently, these figures overwhelm the space. Adding emphasis are the grandeur and versatile styles and textures of natural black hair that serve as a celebration of Black beauty. Yet, there is also a stillness of these figures that echoes what Kevin Quashie (2012) describes as “the sovereignty of quiet” in which quiet “is a metaphor for the full range of one’s inner life—one’s desires, ambitions, hunger, vulnerabilities [and] fears.” … Chatmon’s work primarily focuses on creating a safe and healing space for Black childhood in western society, which is feared and often indistinguishable from Black adulthood.

Excerpt from the essay “What I Want You to Know: Chatmon’s Visual Love Letter to Black Children” By Tanisha M. Jackson, Ph.D.

It Was Never Your Burden To…, 2020
24k gold leaf, acrylic, watercolor on archival pigment print
52 x 36″

Tawny Chatmon Artwork

Tawny Chatmon

artwork | statement | bio | resume | video