CHUKES
Artist Statement

My art is an experience of the wonders of life. I will never stop creating my visions! The three main topics I have been exploring in my work are Identity Theft, The Female, and Music.

In all my years working as an artist, Identity Theft is the most spiritually profound work I have ever created! It has allowed me to dig deeper into my soul to find the right words and images that express my truth about race and culture. During the past eight years, I have exhibited selected pieces of 80+ works at galleries, art institutions, colleges, universities, and museums throughout the United States. This exhibit and my book, Identity Theft: Creations From A Social Conscience is having an extremely positive effect on audiences. Identity Theft continues to gain momentum as future exhibitions are being planned. There is nothing held back as I give viewers and readers my ultimate truth. If I don’t create and speak the truth then my work means nothing!

Most of my art gravitates on and around the female. The female is everywhere in art and life. Just look around you and you will see! They birth and nurture humanity into this world, even during times when it seems like there is no hope! The life they carry is most often a gift and at other times a terrible curse, yet the female perseveres like the unending and expanding universe. As a male, I could never imagine what it would be like to give birth to another human. The closest I will ever get is to create art that expresses the truest and profound meaning of my life! I never take the female for granted, I come from the female! The female is the greatest work of art ever created. I am their clay!

I consider my art to be viewed as music rather than art. With the exception of Michelangelo, I am more influenced by musicians for creative inspiration than I am by figurative artists. I want to create the experience of what music looks like as I listen to the improvisation, details and phrasing of the beautiful notes played by masters of their instruments. I put the same emphasis into my work. I listen to analog vinyl records, cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes I have collected and recorded during my life. I am eclectic in the music I listen to. Some days it’s jazz, fusion, R&B and rock, and at other times it’s nothing but pure FUNK! For me, listening to music is like hearing the countless voices of the world speak to you. There is a tactile feeling. Music tells a story of our history, and it leaves me feeling very enlightened! The art I create is a vision of what I am hearing. If you look deep at my creations, you will experience a symphony of LOVE! Music should open your mind not corrupt your soul!

I am always evolving as an artist. Something old may become something new as I explore and adapt new techniques to my creative processes. I am currently working on a new series titled, Flower Child which deals with my experiences growing up in the 1960’s. My visions never leave me hungry or empty, there always enough to feed my soul and the world!