21st Century Overspray Series

Portrait of an Inspired Scholar, Portrait of a Puissant Gladiator, Portrait of an Appreciator of Nature, Three 18”x26”, Oil and aerosol on Canvas, 2022.

I wanted to translate my spray paint portrait skills back to where I started- in oils! In making this series, I was looking at a lot of old 17th and 18th century paintings specifically symbols of wealth. You could see that in the celestial figures, the fierce animals and flowers that are integrated within the piece. I reappropriated a lot of those symbols in the background and within the wavy line which in itself is styled after a Persian rug.

I also wanted to incorporate photography into this project and took all of my own photo references for the people.

The title is a double entendre referencing something that happens when spray painting stencils and BIPOC students being not necessarily always welcomed at PWI institutions. The 21st Century is a reference to how we talk about old paintings based on their century painted. I think nowadays that will be obsolete because of how quickly we’re evolving as a society. The titles of the individual pieces are a nod to how John Singer Sargent sometimes named his work.