Derek Fordjour with his studio team and collaborators including the puppet artist Nick Lehane. Credit… Rafael Rios for The New York Times.
“I love learning other ways to have a conversation,” Mr. Fordjour said after the rehearsal, a collaboration with the puppet artist Nick Lehane. “Painting has its utility, but performance is another register.”
Derek Fordjour, “STRWMN,” 2020. His paintings, notable for their layered textures and materials, grapple with complex themes of race, inequality and American society, using imagery from carnivals, parades and other celebratory settings. This materials includes cardboard, oil pastel and foil on newspaper mounted on canvas. Credit… Derek Fordjour and Petzel.
“… Black funerary tradition is on my mind,” he added. “Thinking about all the people who were not able to have funerals.”
“Pall Bearers,” 2020, was inspired by the ornate funeral of George Floyd in Houston. Credit… Derek Fordjour and Petzel.
… He covers a canvas or wood board with cardboard tiles, foil and other materials, and wraps it in newspaper (always The Financial Times, for its warm, salmon hue). The process repeats several times, with Mr. Fordjour applying washes of paint, then tearing and carving the accumulating surface as he goes.
(Siddhartha Mitter, “Derek Fordjour, From Anguish to Transcendence,” NYTimes, 11-19-20)
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
Waouh !
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