WEBVTT 00:00:01.325 --> 00:00:04.229 I believe there is beauty 00:00:04.253 --> 00:00:08.494 in hearing the voices of people who haven't been heard. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:08.518 --> 00:00:10.417 ["Drawing the Blinds," 2014] NOTE Paragraph 00:00:11.017 --> 00:00:13.542 ["The Jerome Project (Asphalt and Chalk) III," 2014] NOTE Paragraph 00:00:13.566 --> 00:00:16.477 [Beneath an Unforgiving Sun (From A Tropical Space)," 2020] NOTE Paragraph 00:00:16.501 --> 00:00:17.721 That's a complex idea, 00:00:17.745 --> 00:00:23.406 because the things that must be said are not always lovely. 00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:24.963 But somehow, 00:00:25.947 --> 00:00:28.692 if they're reflective of truth, 00:00:28.716 --> 00:00:33.963 I think, fundamentally, that makes them beautiful. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:35.126 --> 00:00:39.344 (Music) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:41.574 --> 00:00:45.725 There's the aesthetic beauty of the work 00:00:45.749 --> 00:00:50.011 that in some cases functions as more of a Trojan horse. 00:00:50.487 --> 00:00:57.133 It allows one to open their hearts to difficult conversations. 00:00:57.704 --> 00:01:03.293 Maybe you feel attracted to the beauty, 00:01:03.317 --> 00:01:07.629 and while compelled by the technique, 00:01:07.653 --> 00:01:08.813 the color, 00:01:08.837 --> 00:01:10.987 the form or composition, 00:01:11.011 --> 00:01:13.503 maybe the difficult conversation sneaks up. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:13.907 --> 00:01:16.485 ["Billy Lee and Ona Judge Portraits in Tar," 2016] NOTE Paragraph 00:01:16.509 --> 00:01:19.504 I really taught myself how to paint 00:01:19.528 --> 00:01:22.874 by spending time at museums 00:01:22.898 --> 00:01:26.220 and looking at the people that -- 00:01:26.244 --> 00:01:30.425 the artists, rather -- that I was told were the masters. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:31.096 --> 00:01:33.458 Looking at the Rembrandts ["The Night Watch"], NOTE Paragraph 00:01:33.482 --> 00:01:35.443 Renoir ["Luncheon of the Boating Party"], NOTE Paragraph 00:01:35.467 --> 00:01:37.025 Manet ["Luncheon on the Grass"], NOTE Paragraph 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:38.368 it becomes quite obvious 00:01:38.392 --> 00:01:41.637 that if I'm going to learn how to paint a self-portrait 00:01:41.661 --> 00:01:43.809 by studying those people, 00:01:43.833 --> 00:01:45.798 I'm going to be challenged 00:01:45.822 --> 00:01:49.198 when it comes to mixing my skin 00:01:49.222 --> 00:01:52.465 or mixing the skin of those people in my family. 00:01:52.812 --> 00:01:56.866 There's literally formulas written down historically 00:01:56.890 --> 00:01:59.761 to tell me how to paint white skin -- 00:01:59.785 --> 00:02:02.455 what colors I should use for the underpainting, 00:02:02.479 --> 00:02:06.034 what colors I should use for the impasto highlights -- 00:02:06.058 --> 00:02:09.255 that doesn't really exist for dark skin. 00:02:09.609 --> 00:02:10.871 It's not a thing. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:10.895 --> 00:02:12.288 It's not a thing 00:02:12.312 --> 00:02:17.967 because the reality is, our skin wasn't considered beautiful. 00:02:19.079 --> 00:02:24.723 The picture, the world that is represented in the history of paintings 00:02:24.747 --> 00:02:27.023 doesn't reflect me. 00:02:27.047 --> 00:02:32.096 It doesn't reflect the things that I value in that way, 00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:36.037 and that's the conflict that I struggle with so frequently, 00:02:36.061 --> 00:02:40.718 is, I love the technique of these paintings, 00:02:40.742 --> 00:02:43.475 I have learned from the technique of these paintings, 00:02:43.499 --> 00:02:49.126 and yet I know that they have no concern for me. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:49.825 --> 00:02:55.841 And so there are so many of us who are amending this history 00:02:55.865 --> 00:02:58.480 in order to simply say we were there. 00:02:59.425 --> 00:03:02.798 Because you couldn't see doesn't mean we weren't there. 00:03:02.822 --> 00:03:04.023 We have been there. 00:03:04.047 --> 00:03:05.507 We have been here. 00:03:06.173 --> 00:03:10.695 We've continued to be seen as not beautiful, 00:03:11.885 --> 00:03:13.679 but we are, 00:03:13.703 --> 00:03:15.111 and we are here. 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:19.129 So many of the things that I make 00:03:19.153 --> 00:03:24.979 end up as maybe futile attempts to reinforce that idea. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:25.003 --> 00:03:27.052 ["Drawing the Blinds," 2014] NOTE Paragraph 00:03:27.588 --> 00:03:29.657 ["Seeing Through Time," 2018] NOTE Paragraph 00:03:30.009 --> 00:03:36.048 Even though I've had the Western training, 00:03:36.072 --> 00:03:40.294 my eye is still drawn to the folks who look like me. 00:03:40.318 --> 00:03:42.474 And so sometimes in my work, 00:03:42.498 --> 00:03:48.310 I have used strategies like whiting out the rest of the composition 00:03:48.334 --> 00:03:53.590 in order to focus on the character who may go unseen otherwise. 00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:59.667 I have cut out other figures from the painting, 00:03:59.691 --> 00:04:02.331 one, to either emphasize their absence, 00:04:02.355 --> 00:04:08.077 or two, to get you to focus on the other folks in the composition. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:08.101 --> 00:04:10.222 ["Intravenous (From a Tropical Space)," 2020] NOTE Paragraph 00:04:10.246 --> 00:04:15.245 So "The Jerome Project," aesthetically, draws on hundreds of years 00:04:15.269 --> 00:04:18.909 of religious icon painting, NOTE Paragraph 00:04:18.933 --> 00:04:20.848 ["The Jerome Project (My Loss)," 2014] NOTE Paragraph 00:04:20.872 --> 00:04:27.872 a kind of aesthetic structure that was reserved for the church, 00:04:27.896 --> 00:04:29.691 reserved for saints. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:29.715 --> 00:04:30.718 ["Madonna and Child"] NOTE Paragraph 00:04:30.742 --> 00:04:32.935 ["Leaf from a Greek Psalter and New Testament"] NOTE Paragraph 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:34.042 ["Christ Pantocrator"] NOTE Paragraph 00:04:34.066 --> 00:04:38.058 It's a project that is an exploration of the criminal justice system, 00:04:39.319 --> 00:04:43.571 not asking the question "Are these people innocent or guilty?", 00:04:43.595 --> 00:04:48.636 but more, "Is this the way that we should deal with our citizens?" 00:04:49.282 --> 00:04:51.278 I started a body of work, 00:04:51.302 --> 00:04:54.591 because after being separated from my father 00:04:54.615 --> 00:04:57.291 for almost 15 years, 00:04:57.315 --> 00:05:01.220 I reconnected with my father, and ... 00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:07.236 I really didn't know how to make a place for him in my life. 00:05:07.260 --> 00:05:10.629 As with most things I don't understand, 00:05:10.653 --> 00:05:12.796 I work them out in the studio. 00:05:13.406 --> 00:05:17.154 And so I just started making these portraits of mug shots, 00:05:17.178 --> 00:05:21.172 starting because I did a Google search for my father, 00:05:21.196 --> 00:05:24.069 just wondering what had happened over this 15-year period. 00:05:24.093 --> 00:05:25.555 Where had he gone? 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:29.002 And I found his mug shot, which of course was of no surprise. 00:05:29.026 --> 00:05:34.055 But I found in that first search 97 other Black men 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.292 with exactly the same first and last name, 00:05:36.316 --> 00:05:40.057 and I found their mug shots, and that -- that was a surprise. 00:05:40.081 --> 00:05:42.334 And not knowing what to do, 00:05:42.358 --> 00:05:44.111 I just started painting them. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:45.003 --> 00:05:49.280 Initially, the tar was a formula that allowed me to figure out 00:05:49.304 --> 00:05:53.531 how much of these men's life had been lost to incarceration. 00:05:53.555 --> 00:05:55.723 But I gave up that, 00:05:55.747 --> 00:05:58.645 and the tar became far more symbolic 00:05:58.669 --> 00:06:00.278 as I continued, 00:06:00.302 --> 00:06:01.558 because what I realized is 00:06:01.582 --> 00:06:05.121 the amount of time that you spend incarcerated is just the beginning 00:06:05.145 --> 00:06:08.089 of how long it's going to impact the rest of your life. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:08.113 --> 00:06:11.939 So in terms of beauty within that context, 00:06:13.050 --> 00:06:16.612 I know from my friend's family 00:06:16.636 --> 00:06:18.739 who have been incarcerated, 00:06:18.763 --> 00:06:21.059 who are currently incarcerated, 00:06:21.083 --> 00:06:22.664 folks want to be remembered. 00:06:23.587 --> 00:06:25.980 Folks want to be seen. 00:06:26.004 --> 00:06:29.367 We put people away for a long time, 00:06:29.391 --> 00:06:30.680 in some cases, 00:06:30.704 --> 00:06:32.896 for that one worst thing that they've done. 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:34.969 So to a degree, 00:06:34.993 --> 00:06:38.878 it's a way of just saying, 00:06:38.902 --> 00:06:40.275 "I see you. 00:06:40.299 --> 00:06:41.504 We see you." 00:06:42.274 --> 00:06:46.030 And I think that, as a gesture, 00:06:46.761 --> 00:06:47.949 is beautiful. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:49.052 --> 00:06:51.361 In the painting "Behind the Myth of Benevolence," 00:06:51.385 --> 00:06:56.264 there's almost this curtain of Thomas Jefferson 00:06:56.288 --> 00:07:02.604 painted and pulled back to reveal a Black woman who's hidden. 00:07:03.358 --> 00:07:07.501 This Black woman is at once Sally Hemings, 00:07:07.525 --> 00:07:10.816 but she's also every other Black woman 00:07:10.840 --> 00:07:14.310 who was on that plantation Monticello 00:07:14.334 --> 00:07:16.029 and all the rest of them. 00:07:16.053 --> 00:07:18.832 The one thing we do know about Thomas Jefferson 00:07:18.856 --> 00:07:20.584 is that he believed in liberty, 00:07:22.226 --> 00:07:25.954 maybe more strongly than anyone who's ever written about it. 00:07:25.978 --> 00:07:29.059 And if we know that to be true, if we believe that to be true, 00:07:29.083 --> 00:07:33.189 then the only benevolent thing to do in that context 00:07:33.213 --> 00:07:36.279 would be to extend that liberty. 00:07:36.821 --> 00:07:38.626 And so in this body of work, 00:07:38.650 --> 00:07:43.145 I use two separate paintings 00:07:43.169 --> 00:07:48.337 that are forced together on top of one another 00:07:48.361 --> 00:07:55.308 to emphasize this tumultuous relationship between Black and white 00:07:55.332 --> 00:07:56.909 in these compositions. 00:07:56.933 --> 00:07:58.788 And so, that -- 00:07:59.603 --> 00:08:01.410 that contradiction, 00:08:01.434 --> 00:08:05.984 that devastating reality that's always behind the curtain, 00:08:06.008 --> 00:08:11.028 what is happening in race relations in this country -- 00:08:12.212 --> 00:08:15.017 that's what this painting is about. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:18.947 --> 00:08:22.550 The painting is called "Another Fight for Remembrance." 00:08:22.923 --> 00:08:25.098 The title speaks to repetition. 00:08:25.122 --> 00:08:31.869 The title speaks to the kind of violence against Black people 00:08:31.893 --> 00:08:34.236 by the police 00:08:34.260 --> 00:08:36.966 that has happened and continues to happen, 00:08:36.990 --> 00:08:40.017 and we are now seeing it happen again. 00:08:40.566 --> 00:08:47.521 The painting is sort of editorialized as a painting about Ferguson. 00:08:47.545 --> 00:08:50.044 It's not not about Ferguson, 00:08:51.304 --> 00:08:56.428 but it's also not not about Detroit, 00:08:56.452 --> 00:09:00.645 it's also not not about Minneapolis. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:00.669 --> 00:09:03.652 The painting was started because 00:09:04.989 --> 00:09:06.763 on a trip to New York 00:09:08.128 --> 00:09:10.882 to see some of my own art with my brother, 00:09:11.815 --> 00:09:15.078 as we spent hours walking in and out of galleries, 00:09:15.102 --> 00:09:21.560 we ended the day by being stopped by an undercover police car 00:09:21.584 --> 00:09:23.061 in the middle of the street. 00:09:23.085 --> 00:09:26.174 These two police officers with their hands on their gun 00:09:26.198 --> 00:09:27.369 told us to stop. 00:09:27.393 --> 00:09:29.352 They put us up against the wall. 00:09:29.376 --> 00:09:32.004 They accused me of stealing art 00:09:32.028 --> 00:09:36.192 out of a gallery space where I was actually exhibiting art. 00:09:36.868 --> 00:09:39.898 And as they stood there with their hands on their weapons, 00:09:39.922 --> 00:09:44.531 I asked the police officer what was different about my citizenship 00:09:44.555 --> 00:09:47.781 than that of all of the other people 00:09:47.805 --> 00:09:51.691 who were not being disturbed in that moment. 00:09:52.238 --> 00:09:55.801 He informed me that they had been following us for two hours 00:09:55.825 --> 00:10:00.384 and that they had been getting complaints about Black men, 00:10:00.408 --> 00:10:03.144 two Black men walking in and out of galleries. 00:10:04.050 --> 00:10:07.515 That painting is about the reality, 00:10:08.889 --> 00:10:10.649 that it's not a question 00:10:11.872 --> 00:10:15.623 of if this is going to happen again, 00:10:16.419 --> 00:10:18.079 it's a question of when. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:20.695 --> 00:10:24.229 This most recent body of work is called "From a Tropical Space." 00:10:24.253 --> 00:10:28.405 This series of paintings is about Black mothers. 00:10:28.429 --> 00:10:34.269 The series of paintings takes place in a supersaturated, 00:10:34.293 --> 00:10:36.286 maybe surrealist world, 00:10:36.310 --> 00:10:39.868 not that far from the one we live in. 00:10:39.892 --> 00:10:41.418 But in this world, 00:10:41.442 --> 00:10:44.539 the children of these Black women 00:10:45.703 --> 00:10:46.917 are disappearing. 00:10:49.335 --> 00:10:52.404 What this work is really about is the trauma, 00:10:53.475 --> 00:10:57.035 the things that Black women and women of color in particular 00:10:57.059 --> 00:10:58.226 in our community 00:10:58.250 --> 00:11:02.866 have to struggle through in order to set their kids out 00:11:02.890 --> 00:11:04.300 on the path of life. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:05.701 --> 00:11:08.008 What's encouraging for me 00:11:08.032 --> 00:11:12.916 is that this practice of mine 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:15.810 has given me the opportunity 00:11:15.834 --> 00:11:19.612 to work with young people in my community. 00:11:19.636 --> 00:11:22.838 I'm quite certain the answers are not in me, 00:11:22.862 --> 00:11:24.392 but if I'm hopeful at all, 00:11:24.416 --> 00:11:26.630 it's that they may be in them. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:27.209 --> 00:11:31.493 "NXTHVN" is a project that started about five years ago. 00:11:31.517 --> 00:11:34.779 NXTHVN is a 40,000-square-foot arts incubator 00:11:34.803 --> 00:11:36.962 in the heart of the Dixwell neighborhood 00:11:36.986 --> 00:11:38.343 in New Haven, Connecticut. 00:11:38.367 --> 00:11:41.453 This is a predominantly Black and Brown neighborhood. 00:11:41.477 --> 00:11:48.038 It is a neighborhood that has the history of jazz at every corner. 00:11:48.062 --> 00:11:51.979 Our neighborhood, in many ways, has been disinvested in. 00:11:52.373 --> 00:11:58.225 Schools are struggling to really prepare our population 00:11:58.249 --> 00:12:00.526 for the futures ahead of them. 00:12:00.550 --> 00:12:05.846 I know that creativity is an essential asset. 00:12:06.577 --> 00:12:09.696 It takes creativity 00:12:10.942 --> 00:12:14.699 to be able to imagine a future 00:12:14.723 --> 00:12:17.531 that is so different than the one that is before you. 00:12:18.053 --> 00:12:25.034 And so every artist in our program has a high school studio assistant: 00:12:25.058 --> 00:12:28.543 there's a high school student that comes from the city of New Haven 00:12:28.567 --> 00:12:31.946 who works with them and learns their craft, 00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:34.177 learns their practice. 00:12:34.201 --> 00:12:36.243 And so we've seen the ways 00:12:36.267 --> 00:12:41.275 in which pointing folks at the power of creativity 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:42.744 can change them. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:43.856 --> 00:12:46.750 Beauty is complicated, 00:12:47.726 --> 00:12:49.874 because of how we define it. 00:12:51.096 --> 00:12:56.015 I think that beauty and truth 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:58.956 are intertwined somehow. 00:12:59.410 --> 00:13:00.830 There is something 00:13:02.834 --> 00:13:04.388 beautiful 00:13:04.412 --> 00:13:05.757 in truth-telling. 00:13:07.560 --> 00:13:08.744 That is: 00:13:09.585 --> 00:13:13.611 that as an act, truth-telling 00:13:13.635 --> 00:13:18.053 and the myriad ways it manifests -- 00:13:18.077 --> 00:13:19.753 there's beauty in that.