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T Eliott Mansa Biography
T. Eliott Mansa
artwork | statement | bio | resume
Biography
His work, exploring familial and socio-political themes through the lens of West African myth and lore, has been exhibited at the ArtAfrica Fair and Prizm Art Fair during Art Basel, the David Castillo Gallery and the Miami International Airport, all in Miami, and the African American Museum of the Arts in Deland, Florida.
T Eliott Mansa Statement
T. Eliott Mansa
artwork | statement | bio | resume
Statement
My artwork is a critique of destructive, economic power dynamics within urban communities. I have chosen to use a tobacco company that holds a 78 percent market share within the black community as a demonstrative and metaphoric example of the economic forces that profit from destruction within the community. Design elements derived from West African bocio sculptures are used to compose images of power objects, as a means of empowerment and change.
Advertisements for the tobacco company that are aimed at the urban communities are ritually cut and sutured as a way of illustrating the will to overturn present power dynamics and create new ones. Ubiquitous, discarded cigarette boxes are incorporated as a way to invoke the presence of community members as consumers. My work also refers to neoclassical busts, previously used to link the Caucasoid ethnographic type to power. The use of imitation of black granite and marble busts operates as a signifier for identity. Assembled, these elements operate as power objects to aid in the shedding of what Kenyan writer, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o called the “colonized mind.
artwork: Amazon Ochossi, Mixed media, 2013
Ronald Jackson Bio
Biography
Ronald Jackson (born 1970), grew up in a farming family in Marvell, Arkansas and was the youngest of eleven siblings. From an early age, his preoccupation for being creative was apparent to all that knew him.
In 1988, Jackson moved to California immediately after high school, and started an Architectural Design program at Mission Viejo College. It was there that he took his one and only art class, which introduced him to oil painting. He became intrigued by the local Laguna Beach art scene. He eventually withdrew from the Architectural program, got married and joined the U.S. Army in 1992. In joining the Army, life took a turn for a new set of experiences and a series of challenging adventures. He maintained an interest in art, but mostly by observing the artwork of others.
In 2001, halfway through his military career, Jackson had an epiphany that inspired him to consider a post-military career as an artist and painter. However, he realized that he needed much development, and that there was little to no opportunity to attend art school while serving abroad. He therefore read, researched and studied all he could in order to experience significant growth as he worked towards improving his skill; while at the same time, managing multiple military deployments and frequent training exercises.
In 2010, he entered his first exhibition in a regional show, juried by Jennifer Glave Kocen of Glave Kocen Gallery and received the Best of Show award, marking the beginning of the public recognition of his work. In 2011, Jackson had his first solo exhibition at the Libertytown Arts Workshop, in which he displayed a series of works that included over forty paintings. In 2013, he returned to Libertytown for a second show which included nearly fifty new works. During time spent abroad, Jackson received an invitation to participate in a group exhibition titled “The Nude Collection” at Gallery Golmok in Seoul Korea. In February 2014, he gave his third solo exhibition at the Elegba Folklore Society in Richmond, VA, as part of collaboration with the Virginia Museum of
Fine Arts (VMFA). The exhibition addressed the themes of race, place, and identity through the arts. In 2014, Jackson was one of sixty artists to exhibit their work in Emergence 2014: International Artists to Watch at Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, MD.
Jackson makes a point to present people of color in his work. Having a broad interest in various styles of art, his work sometimes blurs between fine art and illustration. He is inspired and influenced by contemporary artist such as Lucian Freud, Kent Williams, and Kerry James Marshall.
In May 2014, Jackson retired from the Army after 21 years of service.
Ronald Jackson Statement
Statement
Life is a continual experience of discovery. Contrasting things that are apparent or taught with personal discoveries creates a perspective that is unique to every individual.
Being mainly a figurative artist, I seek to capture intimate settings to use as a gateway to ponder the complexities of the human experience, as well as the society that influences them. A comprehensive catalog of unique experiences is veiled behind every silent gaze of the human expression. In my work, the figure’s environment gives suggestion to what some of those experiences may be. My goal is to create work that is visually poetic, aiming to create an interactive experience in which the viewer is compelled to ponder possibilities that are reflections of their own experiences. I hope that my work can become a catalyst to trigger for the self-discovery of value, beauty, and significance among people who feel marginalized.
As a self-taught artist and painter, I find the process of manipulating paint on the canvas as being more critical than the materialization of the image. The practice of studying design and composition influences me to alter reality which can add a mystical quality to my work. It is my desire to master the element of mood and emotion rather than mastering the painting of objects. Every application and technique discovered adds depth to my artistic voice, increasing my capacity to communicate in both direct and subtle fashion.
For me, the overwhelming appeal of creating art is its legacy quality. The idea of being able to paint years beyond retirement age and having a lifetime’s body of work representing my time on earth is priceless.
Arrival: Outside her door the world stood still, awaiting her arrival, 2024
Oil, acrylic and colored pencil on canvas
72 x 66 ″
Ronald Jackson
Ronald Jackson grew up in a farming family in the rural Arkansas Delta and was the youngest of eleven siblings. From an early age, his preoccupation with being creative was apparent to all that knew him.
My goal is to create work that is visually poetic, aiming to create an interactive experience in which the viewer is compelled to ponder possibilities that are reflections of their own experiences. I hope that my work can become a catalyst to trigger for the self-discovery of value, beauty, and significance among people who feel marginalized.
Jackson makes a point to present people of color in his work. Having a broad interest in various styles of art, his work sometimes blurs between fine art and illustration. He is inspired and influenced by contemporary artist such as Lucian Freud, Kent Williams, and Kerry James Marshall.
Badass: She never really knew how others viewed her, but in her mind she was a badass, 2024
Oil, acrylic, and colored pencil on canvas
72 x 66 ″
Delita Martin – Bio
Biography
Delita Martin (b. 1972, Conroe, TX) is a master printer. She received her BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University and MFA in printmaking from Purdue University. Formally a member of the fine arts faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Martin is currently working as a full- time artist in her studio.
Martin was 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. Additionally, the Print Association Bentlage Residency Showcase, Kloster Bentlage, in Rheine, Germany, hosted “Gathering the Bones,” a solo exhibition featuring Martin’s work.
In 2021 filmmaker Ava DuVernay, ARRAY commissioned Martin to create “Blue is the Color We See Before We Die,” a mural that serves as a visual eulogy dedicated to Yvette Smith and other women who have tragically lost their lives at the hands of law enforcement officials. The mural is part of DuVernay’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), a propulsive fund founded in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 murder to catalyze creative expression around police violence and accountability.
Martin’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and toured the country (2016-17) in the Crystal Bridges Museum exhibition, State of the Arts:Discovering American Art Now which included 101 artists from across the United States. In 2020, the National Museum of Women in the Arts hosted Martin’s first solo museum exhibition, “Delita Martin: Calling Down the Spirits,” which was reviewed in the Hyperallergic article “Images of Black Women as Avatars of Spiritual Agency” by cultural critic Angela Carroll.
In 2015 Martin was recognized in the International Review of African American Art as one of sixteen “African American Artists to Watch” who are gaining national and international recognition. Permanent Collections (selected): Bradbury Art Museum, C.N. Gorman Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum, David Driskell Center, Library of Congress, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota Museum of American Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Petrucci Family Foundation, Thrivent Financial, William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, and the U.S. Embassy, Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Martin’s works are represented in numerous private and corporate collections in the United States and abroad.
Delita Martin Video
Artist's Talk with Delita Martin: Between Spirits and Sisters
Delita Martin: the Role of Family + Storytelling
Delita Martin–Draw, Paint, Print: The Artist’s Process
Delita Martin– Honoring African American Women
Delita Martin–A Personal Vocabulary of Symbols
Delita Martin artwork featured on Good Morning America.