8 minute read
The Art & the Artist
Black Art is Gold
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Can you talk about Black art without mentioning the chokehold Kehinde Wiley had us in during his 2018 reveal of the presidential portrait of Barack Obama. That painting was almost an answer to the first ever presidents portrait. It was the most familiar I had become with a current day living artist of Kehinde’s magnitude. I looked at art differently from that day on. At the time of the presidential portrait, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s name was lighting up headlines due to the purchase of Untitled 1982 by collector Yusaku Maezawa. It seems like these two historic moments in Black art history ushered in a new generation’s interest in Black art. There was increase in Google searches for artists such as Kara Walker, Bisa Butler, Amy Sherald, Keith Knight, the late great Jacob Lawrence and Gordon Parks. 2018 as the first time ever that African Americans, excluding Basquiat, made the list of most expensive contemporary works. 2018 also saw the sale of Kerry James Marshall’s Past Time by hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
It’s so hard to believe that decades after hip hop culture ushered in an appreciation for Black art, we are still seeing “firsts” in the Black art community. With Black art becoming much more popular in music and on social media why is there still so much mass produced art in our homes? One can only speculate that since we see wealthy Black individuals are purchasing art, we think it's unaffordable. The average person is not just dropping 20k on a Hebru Brantley but there are so many rising artists to support. The Basquiat’s before they are a mononym. Do not miss out on purchasing art and expanding your world because you cannot afford exactly what Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz's has dangling in their foyer.
Get you a Dita Montana, an Antoinette Cauley, a Jillian Williams, before they hit you with the “todays price is not yesterdays price". It has been a pleasure seeing promising artists get a chance to showcase on platforms like Art Basel and now, T.I.'s Trap Museum. If there is anything Black Culture needed, it was a trap music museum. T.I. managed to take this name and turn it into an engaging atmosphere while putting Georgia artists on the map. Let’s dive into this interview with the incredible, Jillian Williams.
Artist Jillian Williams
DSoul FotoArtistry
So Jill, what do you think the significance of Black art in the Black/African American community is, like we have Hip Hop artists buying Black art for millions now?
Telling our story the way we want it to be told. For so long we've been fed an idea of what blackness is but I've been seeing such a huge shift in how artists are reclaiming our stories and showing the world the true meaning of blackness. We're showing blackness in all its glory, it's diversity, it's creativity, it's strengths and weaknesses... the good bad and the ugly. It's not always about beauty and uplifting each other, a lot of the times it's about our pain and our struggle but it's being told by the only perspective that truly matters and that's our own.
The connection to music is huge in our community, what is a song you're currently obsessed with? If you can even pick one.
If you would have asked me this a week ago I probably would have said Never Gonna Be Alone by Jacob Collier. But as of today it's Break My Soul by Beyoncé 😎. I feel like it ties right back into what I was saying about triumph and overcoming.
Did you grow up seeing original Black art in your home or homes of friends and family or was it a lot of mass produced art from Kmart & other department stores (giving my age away because I know folks is about to ask what is Kmart lol)
I have an Uncle that used to paint and his still life's were spectacular. I believe that's the only original art I saw growing up. There was with one room in my grandma's house that had a painting of some flowers in a vase that he did. I used to just sit and stare at it way before I ever even knew I was an artist. I just loved that someone I knew made something so beautiful. Outside of that I mostly saw lots of the mass produced prints that everyone had in the our homes. LOL I defintely know about K Mart lol.
What or who is your favorite thing to paint?
I just recently realized this, but black women. We are so diverse and beautiful in soooo many different ways. I love to capture all the different shapes and skin tones and hairstyles and colors that reflect off of our melanin. I could go on for days lol. I've also been painting versions of myself a lot. Sometimes I paint just to paint, not to show the world or to make money but simply to enjoy the act of it. When I do 9 times out of 10 it ends up being a self portrait of some sort. So I guess I'd say one of my favorite people to paint is myself lol I know that's a little vain but hey, it still falls into the category of black women so it works lol.
What connection do you have to your art, what inspires you?
I'm very connected to my art. I put so much of myself and my experience in my pieces that they become my babies in the process. They sometimes show me things about myself that I didn't even realize. I guess it's like something I have going on subconsciously that shows up through the art and later I look back at it and see how it related to that time in my life when all I was trying to do was create something beautiful. I hope that makes sense. So many things inspire me. I find inspiration in emotion and experience, in other forms of art, in life, in nature... if it moves me I'm inspired and when that happens I'll take a mental note, or a picture, or I'll write down and idea from it.
How do you define your success as an artist right now?
As an artist success for me is being able to paint full time and make a living off of my work. Every time I think about it I'm kinda floored with gratitude that I'm even able to do that. I mean don't get me wrong I have big dreams for my art but in this moment I'm grateful that art has given me the freedom to work for myself.
With social media catapulting the careers of so many creatives, do you think you would be where you are today without the craze of social media?
Absolutely not. Social was the first way the world was introduced to my work. No one saw anything I made in person before I posted it. Even when it wasn't as good as it is now it was so well received that it pushed me to create more. Facebook was the first platform I used to share my work. Then I finally started posting on Instagram and later tiktok, all of which have been VERY instrumental in running my business and being able to do art full time. Social media has put my work in front of millions, something I probably would not have been able to do without it.
Where can we view your work?
Right now I have a piece called 'Stevie Wonderful' in the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville Tennessee. I also have "Barbie", a portrait of Nicki Minaj in Atlanta at the Trap Museum. In addition to the museums you can view my art on Instagram, TikTok, and my website, www.jilliecreates.com
Jillian Williams with her piece 'Barbie' at the Trap Museum in Atlanta
Jillian Williams with her piece 'Stevie Wonderful' at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville Tennessee
