Old Art – Lynching

2002. I was so angry back then. I remember I thought it was my job to paint art that was unsettling, enraged, angry, and screaming “Look at this!! Don’t you dare look away!” I was leaving SF State University, not knowing how I wanted to express myself. Started in graphic design. That was only part of the picture. Took some fine art. Also only part of it. I was lucky to take ethnic studies classes in Black studies, Native American history, and Latin American history. That was part of it.

You can’t learn about the true history of this great nation of America (US, North, South America, Canada) without getting a little pissed off because so much of what was happened here is intentionally left out. The connection to today is as clear as day. It’s one of the reasons I hated reading as a child. I never met a child like me in their pages and I knew they were leaving alotta shit out.

I guess thats part of why I create stories now. To show, to be healthy, and to see.

Around this time. (Over 17 years ago) Trust your Struggle Collective was starting. I learned that art is as much about what has happened as it is “what could be”. I thought I was so cool back when I painted this. How much I had to learn haha. Some people stared at the hundreds of actual beads in this mixed media piece. So many cringed and turned away.

Old sketches from 2006 “All City Sacred” a  gallery show by TYS.