Black History Month - Celebrating Excellence and Artistic Talent

Hi there Viewers!

It is Black History Month (in the UK) and I wanted to highlight that by celebrating excellence and artistic talent that has impressed me in the past year. I will share with you not one but two fantastic Black artists: Nathan Mary Quinn and Titus Kaphar who both paint beautifully and intriguingly.

Please find below a little bit about each one and some of their work. Enjoy!

Nathaniel Mary Quinn

Nathaniel has inserted his mother's name Mary as a middle name as he wanted to honour her. When he graduated from University he felt that she, who had never had the chance to get any formal education, should have her name on his diploma. His mother, who had passed away just before this time, had given so much to raise him and help him realize his potential.

His background was growing up in the notorious "projects" in Chicago with much abandonment and challenges and difficult relationships with his father and brothers. He showed early talent and even impressed street hustlers and gang leaders to the point of them "protecting" him to some degree just so he could create cartoons.

Nathaniel's story is a fascinating one and something quite unique that he does is to merge images of persons and faces from his past and present into split screen mosaic almost surrealistic like images. Below are some of his work displayed for you to browse.

Titus Kaphar

Titus Kaphar is a bit more established and you may be familiar with some of his work. He is also perhaps more political but like Quinn he expresses a personal experience of power to overcome as well as a keen sense of visual impact of imagery reflecting the African-American world. 

He draws a lot on historic motives, reinterprets them and juxtaposes unexpected elements to create a new and challenging dynamic for the viewer. 

Titus Kaphar is originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan but now lives in New Haven, CT. He is the recipient of multiple awards and prizes and has featured in TIME magazine and even given a TED talk. So it is probably fair to say that he is one of the more influential current Black artists in America today especially when it comes to expressing the African American experience in this day and age.

From the works featured below you can get a glimpse of the strength of his artistic interpretations.

Enjoy Black History Month! See you soon again

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PAD London 2018

Hi there dear viewers

For the second year in a row I visited the lovely fair called PAD London. It is held in a temporary purposely set up structure in Mayfair's Berkeley Square (see image below:).

PAD is for Pavilion of Arts and Design. The concept comes from Paris and a lot of the exhibitors come from there although there are also a fair few from elsewhere e.g Spain, Holland, Italy and of course some from the UK too. They have an absolutely incredible level of art, design and decorative arts on display. It is truly a wonderland of the very best in 20th century design.

Some exhibitors are brands and creators of the often limited series items and then some prominent international galleries also participate bringing collections from various designers.

A few of my favourites this time were Herve Van Der Straeten, Garrido Gallery, Maison Rapin, Barbarini & Gunnell, Ammann Gallery and Antoine Broccardo but seriously I loved most if not every stand at the fair.

There is also a beautiful champagne bar by Ruinart for when you want to take a little break after all the excitement - decidedly pleasant. As per usual I took lots of snaps and hope you enjoy the browsing!