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BIO:
I received my education and art background on the islands of Trinidad & Tobago, and then in Newark, New Jersey where I created comic book illustrations for a small but quite nurturing company. I am largely a self-taught artist with some formal training. I have worked professionally in commercial art, interior design, fine art and illustration. My work is comprised of comic books, works on paper, paintings, murals and installations. Recent exhibitions include ‘Newark Between Us’ curated by Rupert Ravens, ‘Black Rock: The Metamorphosis of Home from Isolation to Connection’ which I co-produced and was hosted by Gallery Aferro, and two solo shows, ‘A Fool In The Eyes of God’ at Lex Leonard Gallery and ‘If So, Then So’ at Gallery Aferro.
Artist Statement:
My work is about finding ways to in-cooperate the discipline of critical art theory and the techniques of fine art into the medium of comic illustration to better express the narrative of a conceived comic character storyline. Each work is a small episode or footnote in a larger epic. The story is expanded to include large works, bookmaking, murals and installations. The viewer can ‘enter’ the tale any number of ways and at any given point. This approach to storytelling is not obliged to a beginning nor to an ending. The narrative starts where the work is traveled and ends when the point is made. There is also a comical play between illustration and fine art as well as (if you agree) a ‘Disney Store’ esthetic. Viewers often expect to see some sort of complied comic book in the future of the work.
About the Kulprit comic book:
One night, during a difficult summer of 1995, I sat and watched a movie about another darkly dressed, gun blazing vigilante of whom we are quite familiar and made an observation: at one point during the film this ‘hero’ was captured by police and as he was being taken away a news reporter noted that he had killed over a hundred people. I was amazed. Had the audience questioned whether this one was indeed a hero or a crazed person that should be stopped? With so many so-called heroes like this in media, what effect does this have on our concept of justice? What sort of man would do such a thing in reality? From these questions Kulprit was conceived.
In the mid 90s amongst the glut of over-published titles on comic shop stands, one would be hard pressed to find an issue that addressed the needs of urban youth. Hip-hop was only at the beginning of its official permeation of everything hip and trendy. The urban esthetic was yet relegated to the underground. Kulprit was a first, a compilation of sincere urban grit. Today there are a number of graphitti styled graphic novels available but I believe that Kulprit stands apart. There are no super heroes to cloud the milieu, no magical happenings or impossible abilities to soften the book’s integrity. Kulprit will continue to express itself starkly, and while I have grown quite a bit since I first created it and many of my opinions have changed, this book will boldly explore the dark side of man’s will and the outcome that ultimately lies ahead.
I received my education and art background on the islands of Trinidad & Tobago, and then in Newark, New Jersey where I created comic book illustrations for a small but quite nurturing company. I am largely a self-taught artist with some formal training. I have worked professionally in commercial art, interior design, fine art and illustration. My work is comprised of comic books, works on paper, paintings, murals and installations. Recent exhibitions include ‘Newark Between Us’ curated by Rupert Ravens, ‘Black Rock: The Metamorphosis of Home from Isolation to Connection’ which I co-produced and was hosted by Gallery Aferro, and two solo shows, ‘A Fool In The Eyes of God’ at Lex Leonard Gallery and ‘If So, Then So’ at Gallery Aferro.
Artist Statement:
My work is about finding ways to in-cooperate the discipline of critical art theory and the techniques of fine art into the medium of comic illustration to better express the narrative of a conceived comic character storyline. Each work is a small episode or footnote in a larger epic. The story is expanded to include large works, bookmaking, murals and installations. The viewer can ‘enter’ the tale any number of ways and at any given point. This approach to storytelling is not obliged to a beginning nor to an ending. The narrative starts where the work is traveled and ends when the point is made. There is also a comical play between illustration and fine art as well as (if you agree) a ‘Disney Store’ esthetic. Viewers often expect to see some sort of complied comic book in the future of the work.
About the Kulprit comic book:
One night, during a difficult summer of 1995, I sat and watched a movie about another darkly dressed, gun blazing vigilante of whom we are quite familiar and made an observation: at one point during the film this ‘hero’ was captured by police and as he was being taken away a news reporter noted that he had killed over a hundred people. I was amazed. Had the audience questioned whether this one was indeed a hero or a crazed person that should be stopped? With so many so-called heroes like this in media, what effect does this have on our concept of justice? What sort of man would do such a thing in reality? From these questions Kulprit was conceived.
In the mid 90s amongst the glut of over-published titles on comic shop stands, one would be hard pressed to find an issue that addressed the needs of urban youth. Hip-hop was only at the beginning of its official permeation of everything hip and trendy. The urban esthetic was yet relegated to the underground. Kulprit was a first, a compilation of sincere urban grit. Today there are a number of graphitti styled graphic novels available but I believe that Kulprit stands apart. There are no super heroes to cloud the milieu, no magical happenings or impossible abilities to soften the book’s integrity. Kulprit will continue to express itself starkly, and while I have grown quite a bit since I first created it and many of my opinions have changed, this book will boldly explore the dark side of man’s will and the outcome that ultimately lies ahead.
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© 2008 Newark Arts Council