The Definition of Dope Painting

I am a painter as well as a curator, fascinated with depth and dimension on a 2 dimensional surface, preferably wood. My compositions are inspired by music and metaphysical thought. When I listen to certain songs my mind starts to compose, which is part of my process, as well as painting on color and in layers upon layers. I include sky and cosmos in my compositions coupled with a word commonly used in the golden era hip hop vernacular, using fonts and or graffiti style letters to get my point across in this body of work, which I call Word Power. I also use a sky, cloud scape, or a galactic background in my work as a metaphor for maintaining higher consciousness, as well as expressing my inspiration from music especially music used in the foundation of hip hop culture. My titles reflect my b-boy influence with pieces inspired by Gang Starr, Public Enemy, Outkast, and Cameo to name a few. I refer to the manner in which I work as Visual Rhyme Translation, seeing my paintings as visual lyrics or songs if you will. My visual arts influences are John Biggers, his references to the cosmos and the Dogon, fascinate me to this day, and inspire my metaphysical approach to composition, and the African-American Collective AFriCOBRA and it's influential artists, Nelson Stevens, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Jeff Donaldson to name a few, with the use of their Kool-Aide colors, patterns and concepts that speak to African American thoughts and ideas, which created new compositions and approaches to painting. I love the patterns and bold statements made by Faith Ringgold in her quilt work and the sophisticated and culturally conscious paintings by Lois Mailou Jones.