7x5" Mixed Media on Paper
This is a mixed media collage painting combining hand-painted illustration with cut-and-pasted text fragments from magazines and newspapers — reminiscent of techniques used by artists like Romare Bearden or Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The Figure
A stylishly dressed Black man stands in profile, rendered in expressive painterly strokes. He wears:
A red beanie
A gray jacket adorned with a red starburst emblem and a small cross
Patchwork pants covered in collaged imagery — a bird, colorful fabric scraps, architectural fragments
Yellow/gold sneakers
He holds smoke in his hands and though directing the theme
The Swirling Text
Surrounding him in a spiral of smoke-like gray clouds are cut newspaper/magazine words and phrases:
"wealth," "social revolution," "invasion," "free laughter," "to the extreme," "the modern fiction," "spirit," "LIFE," "arts," "Blind-your-eyes," "anger and cynicism," "voodoo," "REDUCES"
Interpretation
The swirling text creates a vortex of societal forces — capitalism, media, culture, spirituality — encircling the figure. The patchwork clothing suggests a man assembled from the fragments of society, while his composed posture implies quiet defiance.
The warm burnt orange background gives it an aged, timeless quality.