Painter @jholmes214, who responded to George Floyd's murder with a public aerial art demonstration in June, spoke to WWD about his art practice and new paintings on view through @librarystreetcollective.
The Dallas-based artist is self-taught, and the subjects of his works are rooted in his experience growing up in Southeast Louisiana on the Mississippi Delta. He paints poignant scenes of the Black community, family, childhood, and tradition. The works often contain artifacts from his youth — a box fan, a toy gun, the Nike swoosh — as well as scrawled numbers and words. Often, the image or text is partially obscured or crossed out. Viewable or not, the presence of whatever is difficult to see is still there.
"All my paintings are about myself growing up and being a young Black individual in America," says Holmes, who often incorporates elements of childhood play, expressed through body or objects. "A lot of my figures have a worn look on their face, because I want people to realize how much of a struggle it can be," he adds. "And not only that, growing up the way I grew up, by the time you make it this far, you’re exhausted because you felt like we had to do so much to get here."
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Report: @ktauer
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