The Revolution: Separate But Equal – Jim Crow Series, n.d., Acrylic on plywood, 3 of 3, 20″H x 23 5/8″WJohnnie Lee Gray was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina in 1941. In his early years Gray demonstrated artistic talent, painting and drawing as a way to express his emotions and depict his surroundings. Working alongside his grandparents in the fields of their sharecropper farm, and later as a carpenter, textile mill worker, house painter, Gray learned early on to use the materials of his milieu to create works of art that drew on his memories and experiences as a black American man.
After graduating from the county’s segregated Lincoln High School in 1960, Gray enlisted in the Army, where he served for seven years, including an 18-month volunteer tour of duty in Vietnam. As a Vietnam Veteran and self-taught artist, Gray’s work illustrated his experiences in the military as an African-American and the participation of black people in the history of the American and world landscape. Described as “visionary” “outsider” artist, the patterned shapes, visual texture, vibrant palettes and repetitive forms showcased in his paintings are recognizable characteristics of his historical narratives. read full bio
The Revolution: Separate But Equal – Jim Crow Series, n.d., Acrylic on plywood, 3 of 3, 20″H x 23 5/8″WJohnnie Lee Gray was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina in 1941. In his early years Gray demonstrated artistic talent, painting and drawing as a way to express his emotions and depict his surroundings. Working alongside his grandparents in the fields of their sharecropper farm, and later as a carpenter, textile mill worker, house painter, Gray learned early on to use the materials of his milieu to create works of art that drew on his memories and experiences as a black American man.
After graduating from the county’s segregated Lincoln High School in 1960, Gray enlisted in the Army, where he served for seven years, including an 18-month volunteer tour of duty in Vietnam. As a Vietnam Veteran and self-taught artist, Gray’s work illustrated his experiences in the military as an African-American and the participation of black people in the history of the American and world landscape. Described as “visionary” “outsider” artist, the patterned shapes, visual texture, vibrant palettes and repetitive forms showcased in his paintings are recognizable characteristics of his historical narratives.
Recently earning his spot in history along notable artists like Jacob Lawrence and Robert Colescott, Gray’s parting prayer was that his wife of 22 years, Shirley Sims Gray, would be blessed through his artwork and provided for after he passed (2000). Mrs. Gray later went on to establish Art by J. Lee Gray, Inc, and serves as the CEO for this private collection. In 2004, one of his paintings—depicting sharecroppers picking cotton—sold for $100,000, a significant price for the work of an outsider artist.
A pivotal point in Johnnie Lee Gray’s career came after his death, when PBS and Thirteen/WNET New York reached out to Mrs.Gray to conduct an interview for their ongoing research on the African-American experience with legally enforced segregation, otherwise known as Jim Crow. While interviewing her, researchers discovered her husband’s extensive body of work revealing the storyteller they were looking for. Shortly after New York Life Insurance Company became the official corporate sponsor for the television series The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, airing nationally in the fall of 2002, which prominently featured Grays work. This new attention and recognition prompted a traveling exhibition in 2003, curated by Dr. Gwendolyn H. Everett of Howard University, with its official opening night at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, NY.
From 2003-2009, Johnnie Lee Gray’s work was exhibited in such venues as the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda, Washington D.C.; The Forbes Galleries, Manhattan, NY; Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL; Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, GA; California State University, Northridge, CA; the Spartanburg County Museum of Art, SC; University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA; Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC; Converse College Milliken Art Gallery, Spartanburg, SC; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, NY; and the Cherokee County History & Arts Museum, Gaffney, SC. 1
Significant exhibitions include traveling solo exhibits: “Rising Above Jim Crow: The paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray”, 2003 and “Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art”, 2007-2008.
1 Biography information sourced from Rising Above Jim Crow: The Paintings of Johnnie Lee Gray by Dr. Gwendolyn H. Everett, PH.D., 2004, New York Life Insurance Company
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: Separate But Equal - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 1 of 3, 20 5/8"H x 27 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: We Shall Overcome - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 2 of 3, 20"H x 26 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Revolution: Separate But Equal - Jim Crow Series, N.D., Acrylic on plywood, 3 of 3, 20"H x 23 5/8"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Johnnie Lee Gray, The Juke Joint: Summer of 65', 1992, Acrylic on plywood, 21 1/2"H x 22"W (framed), Provenance: Collection of Mrs. Shirley Sims Gray
Art movements have always been instrumental in shaping the discourse of contemporary art, reflecting the cultural and societal shifts of their time. Among these movements, Cubism is a style of art that emerged in the early 20th century, characterized by fragmented forms, multiple viewpoints, and geometric shapes. It was pioneered by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and soon became a dominant style in the art world.
Like many contemporary artist of today I too am drawn to cubism’s ability to break down and reassemble forms in a way that challenges traditional notions of representation. Although I use the same basic principles as cubism, I refer to my work as Afro-Cubism. Afro-Cubism is characterized by its ability to seamlessly blend diverse artistic elements into a harmonious whole. One of its defining features is the incorporation of bold, geometric shapes and intricate patterns that echo the motifs found in African art. These forms are often imbued with symbolic meanings, representing spirituality, cultural identity, and the shared experiences of the African diaspora.
Furthermore, Afro-Cubist art frequently embraces vibrant colors, reflecting the vivacity of African cultures. This visual vibrancy serves as a visual link between the past and the present, inviting viewers to engage with the history and emotions embedded in the artwork. This art form challenges the conventional notions of artistic expression and allows me to explore new mediums, techniques, and narratives that pay homage to my heritage while engaging with modern contexts. It encourages a dialogue between tradition and innovation, bridging the gap between past and present.
Sometimes I Wonder, 2023
Relief Printing, Charcoal, Pastels, Acrylic, Hand-Stitching, Printed Papers
Morel Doucet (b. 1990, Pilate, Haiti) is a Miami‐based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator from Haiti. He employs ceramics, illustrations, and prints to examine the realities of climate gentrification, migration, and displacement within the Black diaspora communities.
Doucet’s works offer narratives that address the contemporary reconfiguration of the Black experience. His compelling imagery captures environmental decay at the intersection of economic inequity, the commodification of industry, personal labor, and race.
Doucet’s Emmy-nominated work has been featured and reviewed in numerous publications, including Vogue Mexico, Oxford University Press, Hyperallergic, Luxe Interiors + Design, Biscayne Times, PBS, Miami Herald, WhiteHot Magazine, The Berlin Journal, and Hypebeast. He graduated from the New World School of the Arts with the Distinguished Dean’s Award for Ceramics. From there, he continued his education at the Maryland Institute College of Art, receiving his BFA in Ceramics with a minor in creative writing and a concentration in illustration. Doucet’s work is in the collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Tweed Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, the Plymouth Box Museum, the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, Microsoft, and Facebook.
Works by Doucet have been exhibited extensively in national and international institutions, including the Havana Biennial; Venice Biennale, the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, Miami, FL; the National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts, Pittsburgh, PA; the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA; the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; Flaten Art Museum, St. Olaf College, São Tomé et Príncipe, Haitian Heritage Museum, Miami, FL, and Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL.
As an Arts Educator, his interest is to immerse young audiences in personalized courses that instigate curiosity, sensory perception, and visual literacy.
Doucet is among the eight African American artists featured in the 2022 Venice Biennale exhibition The Afro-Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined, curated by Myrtis Bedolla of Galerie Myrtis. The exhibit explores the theme of Black life on the continuum of its imagined future presented in the Personal Structures art fair.
Morel Doucet (b. 1990, Pilate, Haiti) is a Miami‐based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator that hails from Haiti. He employs ceramics, illustrations, and prints to examine the realities of climate‐gentrification, migration, and displacement within the Black diaspora communities.
Black Maiden in Veil of Midnight, 2022
Slip-casted white earthenware
12.5 x 8.5 x 16″
Through our dreams, we make contact with a vast, yet elusive side of ourselves. My work utilizes and reflects converging objects found in nature, such as an accumulation of flora and fauna. Drawing inspiration from nature’s paradoxical beauty, I aim to create work that not only stands out for its regal impact but also for its sensitivity. My inspiration comes from an ongoing interest and profound respect for indigenous tribal cultures of the Amazon, Aboriginal natives of Australia and the Yoruba tribe of West Africa. I am fascinated with garments and textiles of Native Americans and Afro-futurism. With this vocabulary of indigenous art, along with my personal dreams, I make whimsical forms resulting in a diary of my personal mythology.
My work explores the cultural disparity of self-visualization, assimilation, and transnational identity. Using direct or suggested human figures, I am interested in exploring narratives of vulnerability, isolation, and alienation in tribal societies. The theme of flora and fauna falls heavily into my work; the root, stem, and leaf comprise of a complex capillary network that symbolically evokes underlying themes of our connections to nature. This connection is itself part of the larger web of existence, and how it is categorized and dissected in many fashions in search for balance and truth. This all-encompassing web connects all things through every expression of spatial and temporal existence – animal instinct, curiosity, and intellect – to navigate our way through the limited span of our existence.
Secrets That The Wind Carries Away, 2023
Mixed media on paper (mylar, aerosol paint, wood stains, indigenous flora )
44.75 x 72 ″
Wesley Clark was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts from George Washington University — where he was twice awarded the Morris Louis Fellowship in 2010 and 2011; a fellowship primarily awarded once per incoming graduate class.
Black Don’t Crack but it Sho’ Catch Hell, 2016
78” x 116” x 6”
Spray paint, latex, steel, wood
Morel Doucet (b. 1990, Pilate, Haiti) is a Miami‐based multidisciplinary artist and arts educator from Haiti. He employs ceramics, illustrations, and prints to examine the realities of climate gentrification, migration, and displacement within the Black diaspora communities.
Through our dreams, we make contact with a vast, yet elusive side of ourselves. My work utilizes and reflects converging objects found in nature, such as an accumulation of flora and fauna. Drawing inspiration from nature’s paradoxical beauty, I aim to create work that not only stands out for its regal impact but also for its sensitivity. My inspiration comes from an ongoing interest and profound respect for indigenous tribal cultures of the Amazon, Aboriginal natives of Australia and the Yoruba tribe of West Africa. I am fascinated with garments and textiles of Native Americans and Afro-futurism. With this vocabulary of indigenous art, along with my personal dreams, I make whimsical forms resulting in a diary of my personal mythology.