Protest
Being an artist, the experience of painting can be easy and staggering, depending on the day. Being laid from my "pay my bills" job, I found it arduous to paint, as I would constantly imagine when I was working. That "extra" time felt like an unmotivated eternity on some days.
Memorial Day is typically a time we honor our fallen veterans. Some of us would even extend out to family and friends for cookouts and drinks, but COVID-19 caused an impediment to social activities across the United States.
Something very dark happened that propelled me to create this new series of paintings. Watching the murder of George Floyd was not only painful and scary, but it felt like a part of my life was taken from me as well.
After watching a redundant murder of an African-American, a watershed of gut checks and emotions was consuming my entire existence at that moment. I had to do something. I must express this darkness, this emotional darkness was saying something, and it was becoming louder. It felt as if my ancestors wanted to push me to another level to create this voice through my most recent paintings.
Not only am I creating paintings, but I'm also creating a voice of protest (and at times mapping) the ongoing system of racism to assist in dismantling this toxic power structure.
Memorial Day is typically a time we honor our fallen veterans. Some of us would even extend out to family and friends for cookouts and drinks, but COVID-19 caused an impediment to social activities across the United States.
Something very dark happened that propelled me to create this new series of paintings. Watching the murder of George Floyd was not only painful and scary, but it felt like a part of my life was taken from me as well.
After watching a redundant murder of an African-American, a watershed of gut checks and emotions was consuming my entire existence at that moment. I had to do something. I must express this darkness, this emotional darkness was saying something, and it was becoming louder. It felt as if my ancestors wanted to push me to another level to create this voice through my most recent paintings.
Not only am I creating paintings, but I'm also creating a voice of protest (and at times mapping) the ongoing system of racism to assist in dismantling this toxic power structure.
L'Andrae' Bradley 2020
