The premise of this work explores my fascination with documenting this tool, a basketball. The nuances of the game, the dramatization and emotional connection I and the basketball community have to this object is incomparable. From an early age, I remember playing basketball until the ball got heavy with sweat, bouncing it on the hot pavement, printing that moisture and watching it fade away. For some reason, this printing process invoked a creative emotion long before I cared to draw. This experimentation is what I strive to hold close to this body of work. With more complexity, the paintings separate themselves from the basketball that made them, creating something entirely new.
Playing basketball on canvas has been my favorite performance with my long time friend Robert Boswell. When playing 1 on 1 against the same person for many years, both players acquire an inventory of moves on defense and offense. These moves in a creative setting, become choreography which is then being documented with colored ink.
PRODUCTIONS
Creating a space for artistic freedom and expression is very fulfilling. Through leasing out my own spaces as well as exhibiting within an institution, my experiences in production leave me wanting more every time. Shaping an opening night experience for viewers leaves no detail missing, a work of its own with many contributing layers.
Hoop Dreams
Group Exhibition
artists: Justin Carter, Kendrick terrance, colton teri
Black Cat DC
8/14/21 - 8/22/21
Hoop Dreams presented an exploration of basketball, the influence it has had on myself as well as the other artists involved. Documentation of the basketball community, symbolism and the basketball it self all accumulated to present the viewer with the power of the sport. Opening night for this exhibition was especially great because of the location and effort from all participants involved.
The Big Picture
Solo Exhibition
Black Cat DC
7/9/21 - 7/18/21
The Big Picture includes an accumulation of objects and symbols, dissected and transformed, representing my interests. An exploration into design aesthetics found in federally issued mandates such as ration stamps and national seals from WWII. Working with this iconography, my sculptures undertake notions of national collectivity, a distant unconnected feeling. However through this process, I feel more connected to my grandmother Julia whom I never met, who arrived in the US during the 1940s. A triangle of conflict between the connected, unconnected and aesthetic.
Ready For Nothing
Solo Exhibition
Kensington, MD
6/1/20 - 6/30/20
This show presents work made in quarantine over a month span. The work reflects the environment to which has become a sense of home. These layers of mediums and earth are tethered into my own family historical iconography.
War time ration stamps relationship with the individual whom possesses them creates dialogue between the the collective and self. Through the iconography, the piece questions forms of value, political engagement, and class structure. Monumentalizing the form of the ration ticket, through an impermanent structure, this slab begins deconstructing its own tangibility.
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Senior Thesis
The Cooper Union School of Art
New York, NY
3/13/20 - 3/20/20
My senior thesis exhibition included paintings, sculptures and documented performances. The body of work was made with the focus on finding alternative processes to subjects closest to myself such as family and sports. Installing the exhibition, marketing and following through with a high energy opening night had flourished into a crucial part of my practice. Working with the Cooper Union professors and building staff on this exhibition as well as others was an amazing experience.
Tempo: The Long Game
Group Exhibition
The Cooper Union School of Art
Artists: Avia Hurley, Danny Polonsky, David Sami, Gala Prudent, Jermaine Carter, Melissa Binari, Ness, Darius Michelman, Sydney Elexis Vernon, Luke Emmanuel Sarmiento, Colton Teri
New York, NY
11/10/19 - 11/14/19
Tempo: The Long Game was a group art exhibition in The Cooper Union’s Great Hall Gallery, featuring work pertaining to and around the world of sports.
Through the accumulation of knowledge in a given practice, whether that be of sport or art, progress to one’s goal of mastery is not steady. Tempo is embedded deep within the systems of progression, especially when categorized under the collective.
Tomorrows
Group Exhibition
Artists: zuri scott, max miller, brian hsieh, jermaine carter, david sami, dani portillo, melissa binari, colton teri
maryland
5/31/19 - 6/3/19
This exhibition was an introspective of the artistic processes and growing bodies of work by 6 different up-and-coming artists, all of which are current students at The Cooper Union School of Art. I had exhibited in the space previously in 2018 and wanted to give more of my friends the opportunity to show their work. The mission of Tomorrows was to give the included artists a platform to present their work to a wider audience with the goal to inspire and broaden horizons within the community.
DMV to NYC
duo Exhibition
with Jermaine Carter
Maryland
7/14/18 - 7/22/18
DMV to NYC was the first art exhibition I ever produced. I invited my good friend Jermaine Carter to exhibit along side myself. Learning how to lease a space, renovate the space on a budget and advertise my event changed my perspective on my role as an artist. Creating that space for another artist as well as the viewers to visit became extremely fulfilling. The energy from opening night and the weeks following made me want to keep creating and producing when the opportunities arose.
