Source: Courtesy of Murjoni Merriweather / Courtesy of Murjoni Merriweather
October 25 is National Art Today! It’s a day where people can take a moment to celebrate the works of fine art. It’s a new unofficial holiday that was created by a New York gallery called RoGallery. They chose to celebrate the arts on October 25 because that is the birthday of the famous painter Pablo Picasso. Feel free to celebrate the day by visiting an art museum. Or you can take a stab at making some art of your own. But for now, take a look at these 10 Black artists and sculptors who use influences from Black culture in their work and transform the impact to pay homage to the culture.
There are two famous paintings that Amy Sherald is most known for creating. She is the artist behind the portrait of Michelle Obama sitting poised with her hand rested under her chin. Sherald also paid homage to Breonna Taylor with a portrait of her wearing a turquoise blue dress. The theme of her work is Black people in everyday life or Black realism. Her subjects are always looking directly into the lens, as if posing for an actual photo. She notably paints her subjects using shades of gray to highlight universality. But she always paints in a pop of color. She either does it in the background of the painting or in the subject’s clothes or in objects around them.
Like Sherald, Murjoni Merriweather utilizes her creations to highlight Black culture, Black people, and Black experiences. She is a sculptor who is focused on uplifting Black people and eliminating stereotypes through her sculptures. The pieces aren’t usually full body subjects, but reflect people created from the neck up. Sometimes she’ll incorporate jewelry like a grill or bamboo earrings in her claywork. If her figures aren’t bald they may have Black natural hair or braids. She’s also made sculptures out of hand braided synthetic hair.
Guerline Pierre is a Haitian-American in Florida who has gone viral off of creating positive representation of Black culture and highlighting nostalgic Black childhood experiences. The acrylic painter’s art features paintings of glossy lips, braids and even a Black man with waves. But what really sets her work apart is her 3D art. She often uses extensions to actualize the Black hair in her paintings. In one of her childhood memory portraits, she went so far as to add real beads on the end of the braids.
Chakaia Booker is a true trailblazer who creates monumental artwork out of salvaged tires. She started using these used car parts back in the 1980s. What attracted her to them is the fact that the shades of black in the rubber reminded her of human diversity. The wear and tear on the tire represents human aging, and the tire threads are comparable with African designs and scarification. Her popular works include her It’s So Hard To Be Green sculpture and more recently Shaved Portions.
Candice J is all about making expressive portraits. She began painting in 2023, and has already figured out her own niche. Her oil paintings capture emotion and beauty in Black individuals. She’s made portraits of well known singers like the late Tina Turner and Marvin Gaye. But she also has artworks of everyday Black people including babies, mothers, and women.
Kelia Strong is an Chicago-native artist that brings traditions of Black culture and stories to life in her artwork. Her work easily catches one’s eyes, especially her mosaic pieces, which celebrate Black hair and girlhood. Her mosaic works often include Black hairstyles that are made out of classic hair accessories for young Black children such as hair bubbles, bows, beads and combs. Another astounding mosaic of hers shows a young boy with cornrows. She created this using legos, a hair pic, toy cars and toy dinosaurs.
Dawn Okoro’s desire to become an artist stemmed from her love of fashion illustration and design. She often paints her subjects on a solid color background. Plus she uses influences from punk, hip hop and composition techniques in fashion photography. Her subjects, whom she photographs before painting them, seem so vivid and alive in her work. Many of them show the subject being expressive with their arms or their bodies.
Deborah Roberts is an Austin, Texas artist who uses collages as the signature style for her art. She uses this technique as a way to share a vast and inclusive view of Blackness. Roberts strives to deconstruct the sexualization of Black women, the depiction of Black men being violent, and the adultification of Black children. She does this by searching the internet for new faces and uses a collage format to assemble the parts of different faces. Doing this, she hopes to derail the monolith stereotype about Black people.
Calida Rawles gained notoriety for her photorealistic paintings that put a focus on black bodies and water. The water she draws in each of her pieces symbolizes a space for Black spiritual and physical healing. Water also represents historical trauma and racial exclusion. Her methods to completing a piece of artwork begins with research. After that she finds a subject to model in water, whom she then takes 400 to 500 photos of. That will then serve as a visual basis for her paintings.
Sophia Oshodin is a self taught figurative painter whose art reflects Black women expressing joy and/or strength. Her work features vibrant and bold colors and she incorporates her love for fashion in the pieces. Most of the women are wearing bright patterned clothing or are dressed up in some form or fashion. Before working as a painter, Oshodin was a stylist herself and ran a fashion blog. So her interest in fashion is a stand out piece of her work.
