Abiose Spriggs

Rochester, NY based painter, Abiose Spriggs, has lived and worked in the Western New York area for over 5 years now. With pictorial flatness and often using un-mixed paint colors from the tube, he invites viewers into his headspace heavily shaped by technology, music, and current affairs (locally and globally). Focusing primarily on his contemporary portraits of imaginary figures adorned with hats and gapped teeth, clowns, and militaristic monochromatic images of young men. His interest in “the artist hand” and his natural surroundings, often produce landscapes focused on trees where people have left marks, tags, or names.

“I have been afraid for many years of achieving my dream as an artist, and I no longer fear failure. Thank you for the opportunity.”
-Abiose

Artist Statement:

I treat my artwork as a visual journal. It cements moments of my life as I try to digest them mentally. Through painting, I focus on the ideas of blackness and how I continuously try to reclaim and come to terms with what it means to be Black.  Visually I converse with various artists from Cezanne to Matisse, Hans Hoffmann to Josef Albers, Jacob Lawrence to Clifford Stills, and the multitude of contemporary artists that flood my timeline via social media (Black or otherwise). Paint is this archaic medium that I cannot break free from.  Like the museumgoer, I am repeatedly brought back to its magic of transforming a blank surface into something other-worldly. I get excited when I notice "mistakes" or brush strokes, layers, or just the artist's hand in general. Those who view my work may see similar attributes in my painting practice. 

In the past, my art practice has gone from drawing, mixed media, abstraction, sculpture, and surrealism taking inspiration from my own life experiences and personal interests. As of recent, my focus has taken influence from Kerry James Marshall's seminal painting "A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self" (1980). In an interview with KJM and Charles Gaines, Marshall speaks about how "A Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self" changed his own art practice and defined what he was trying to accomplish with his art, which was the representation of black people in art and creating a space for blackness in the canon of visual arts.  Marshall's image is a well-spring of inspiration for me.  As a result, it has renewed my vow to the practice of artmaking.  Each day I am finding new areas of interest and subject matter to inform my next body-of-work as it relates to my personal experiences and my environment.

Stylistically, my work can be nestled next to a Cezanne landscape or one of Gauguin's Polynesian portraits.  My paintings are influenced either by a personal photo or a sketch.  My landscapes are visual photographs taken from walks around Western New York's vast park systems. With pictorial flatness and often using un-mixed paint colors from the tube, I invite viewers into my mental headspace heavily shaped by technology, music, and current affairs (locally and globally). I apply the same approach to my portraits, which are often silhouetted figures with hats and gapped teeth, clowns, and militaristic monochromatic images of young men whose gaze directly interacts with viewers.

"My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory, it has been based on observation, on feeling, on the very nature of each experience."
– Henri Mattisse