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Art Profile
Artist profile
True Colors
ARTIST JALEEL CAMPBELL’S UNIQUE STYLE COMBINES ART DECO AND CUBISM IN A CELEBRATION OF SELF
BY KATHERINE RUSHWORTH
Jaleel Campbell is a force of nature.
Campbell, 25, is an imposing, tall man with a soft voice and a big heart. He is a young man beginning to chart his life’s journey, a journey comprised of big plans for himself and his broader community. Jaleel Campbell wants to make a difference.
First up on his to-do list is to open his home/ studio to the community.
“I want my studio to be a space of affirmation,” he says.
Campbell lives in the Near West Side on the top floor of a multi-use building. His space is open, bright and inviting. It’s here that he wants to present workshops, give tours, and host monthly mixers for Black creatives.
“I want this to be the creative hub that brings everyone into the same room,” he says.
Campbell is also a practicing artist, working primarily in the medium of digital illustration, but he has also written and produced videos under the “Feel That Funk” title, has a collection of dolls, called “Jalethal Dolls,” and is a frequent speaker at area middle and high schools. He is also a successful fundraiser, raising money to support projects falling under the Jaleel Campbell Art Fund. He raised $10,000 in 10 days last June.
“I have been propositioned to paint murals [in Syracuse],” Campbell says, “but nobody wants to pay me. This money (in the fund) will go to all these different efforts.”
Campbell is Syracuse-born and bred. He holds an undergraduate degree from Cazenovia College and a Masters in Media Arts from SUNY-Purchase. He returned to Syracuse last spring, during the height of the pandemic, finishing his MFA degree remotely. He’s happy to be back in Syracuse,
Left, Homecoming by Jaleel Campbell. Above, Jaleel Campbell with his work Just a Touch.
This page, Mt. Blackmore, Feel That Funk. Opposite page, a Jalethal Doll.
believing his hometown is underrated and people need to be more open to the possibilities that exist here.
“Syracuse has done nothing but show me love,” he says. “It is such a beautiful city and I want to help change that narrative… that there’s nothing to do.”
Campbell came late to the art world. It wasn’t until his junior year at Nottingham High School that he decided he wanted to pursue art seriously. He had been working in acrylic painting, creating stylized portraits that foreshadowed his current style of digital illustration and was receiving positive feedback from teachers and peers. But because he had come to the game late, he had only a year to prepare a portfolio for college application reviews, a critical element in admission to a college art program.
“You could tell the difference between me, the newcomer,” Campbell reflects, “and those who had access to that kind of training. It was discouraging.”
But determination and will paid off. Campbell was accepted into the BFA program at Cazenovia College and things started to look up.
“Once I got to Cazenovia College…they taught me how to thrive,” he says. “There was a core group of teachers that had such an impact on me.”
Since then, Campbell has grown in many ways. He’s mastered Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, embraced a distinctive visual language that he describes as a blend of Art Deco and Cubism, shown his work publicly, and ventured into new mediums in-
cluding video and the Jalethal Dolls.
“I feel this was one of the most personal projects I’ve ever done,” he says of the dolls.
The dolls have a mixed history for Campbell. When he was a kid, he loved playing with his sister’s cloth dolls, which raised his dad’s ire. He created distinctive hair styles for them, fashioned clothes for them and found his own creativity to be stirred by their possibilities. But his dad believed dolls were for girls and admonished Campbell for his interest in them. This disapproval and harsh judgment by his father bred an anxiety in the young man that lasted for many years. How do you conform to a belief and behavior that isn’t your own?
“My father and I, for a time, had such a messed up relationship because of that,” he says. “But he acknowledged his wrong doings and he gave me his blessings.”
The dolls Campbell creates today are whimsical, gender-inclusive creations that come to fruition with patterns he creates using Adobe Illustrator, which he then transmits to a cutting machine called a Cricut. The dolls, which are stitched together, have elongated limbs, wild hairstyles and exaggerated facial features.
Campbell revealed these dolls to the public following the release of his second “Feel That Funk (The Crush on You Experience),” video in 2019. The first rendition of “Feel That Funk” was released in 2018 in conjunction with a set of 17 digital illustrations, which were on exhibit at the Community Folk Art Center. The videos are vastly different in style although they share a similar sense of freedom and lack of inhibition — something Campbell was deliberately trying to communicate. There’s a celebration of self in these videos that defies the confines of societal expectations.
“Let your hair down,” he says of the videos. “We have to put up so many guards to protect ourselves. Just dance it out.”
You might feel Campbell has already made a fairly strong mark on the world at a young age, but he’s really just begun.
“By the end of my career I want to own one of those warehouses where I can print and ship my work worldwide,” he says. “It would be a Black-owned company.”
He envisions a gallery on the first floor, a printing/shipping area for his work on the second floor, a doll workshop on the third floor, and photography/video studios on the fourth floor. He puts it out there with conviction and not a modicum of self-doubt.
“I claim it,” Campbell says.
Next up for Campbell is his one-person show opening at the Everson Museum of Art on January 30 and running through March 31. The show is titled, “Homecoming,” and will be comprised of recent digital illustrations of the same title, a selection of Jalethal Dolls and videos. He says he’s looking forward to the show.
“I think [the show] will be a beautiful moment for them as an institution and me as an artist,” Campbell says.
To learn more about Jaleel Campbell, visit his website at JaleelCampbell.com.
JALEEL CAMPBELL
