“A human painting is produced inside a life. The painter gets tired. Attention shifts. A hand hesitates. A decision made in the morning may be reconsidered at night. A mark can be the result of confidence, frustration, correction, discovery, or fatigue. Some of these conditions are visible in the final work and some are only indirectly present, but they belong to its formation. The painting has duration.”
“Her work is an abstract reflection of her life. The colourful, idyllic childhood, the loneliness and isolation of institutional care and, above all, the connection with her sister Joyce.”
“Part of what I wanted was to create an excuse for people to find themselves in places they might pass by often but never actually stand in. Ditches. Behind shopping centers. Meadows and fields. Service roads.”
“I might add that portraiture is also a tender art. It tries to hold onto what can’t be contained, which is life itself and a clear view of it.”
The myriad examples of artwork created by children in internment camp settings are evidence that the human spirit is strong and malleable, even under the most extreme conditions.
“Although he personally describes his art as Afro-realism, when we look at it with historical circumspection, we will be more attuned to link it to the larger zeitgeist of a slew of known and unknown artists operating presently in the Internet and social media spaces, so that it almost feels like a movement.”
“I always try to paint beauty, but some people say my paintings aren’t beautiful. Well I have beauty in my mind …”
“A monument by nature pays homage to a person, place or event; however, as a public work of art, it should be reflective of democratic (not the political party, the ideology) principles like equality, equity and justice. White supremacist iconography, which are what the Confederate statues and sculptures are, is the antithesis of the three aforementioned tenets.”
An interview with painter Pia De Girolamo.
Duncanson’s skill established him not only in this county, but in England and throughout Europe as America’s first internationally renowned African American artist.
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