I draw inspiration from my dreams and insatiable curiosity and love for history; specifically African American history. The abstract figurative piece is inspired and informed by the history of sundown towns, for that reason I’ve titled it, “Out After Sunset”.
Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation, and/or violence.
Pictured is an African American child leap frogging a hydrant in a sunset or grey town a color deliberately used in the painting. Near the child’s head a bold red line from a police car siren representative of the imminent life threatening danger the child is in while doing a seemingly harmless recreational activity.
A magenta or sad shade of red traces the child’s profile and body symbolic of his dismal reality. A video game neon yellow light in the foreground is indicative of the child being caught by the gamer(hunter)/cop.
My choice of medium for this piece is oil paint of which palette knives were used for application of my expressions. My palette knives create texture and properly express the noise, chaos and energy that I want to resonate with the viewer.
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