AS A BLACK ARTIST, HOW DOES COLOR COME INTO PLAY IN YOUR WORK?

Now, it depends on what I’m conceptually moving toward. The Static series addresses my specific and very personal experiences of being profiled. In the painting, Still, when I got to the eyes of the figure, it really came home to me how I felt the many times I was pulled over. One time in particular, I was pulled over with sirens blaring while my three-year-old son, sitting in his car seat, looked on and asked me, “Daddy, are they gonna shoot you?” I could only reply, “I hope not.” With a megaphone, they ordered me to put my hands out the window, open the door with my right hand, put my hands over my head, lace my fingers and walk backwards. In the very moment I was grabbed and pushed to the ground, handcuffed for absolutely no reason, the thought crossed my mind, “Are they gonna shoot me?”

That painting represented the whole thing for me. Now, someone on the outside seeing that painting, I’m not sure what they would get out of that, but for that particular painting, I knew it would be a person of color.