“Melancholy” African American portraits cloth on wood board

cloth on wood board

There is a sweet poetry to musical improvisation

including surviving the brutal racial culture following Reconstruction and the onset of Jim Crow

beautiful colors and the somber yet powerful expressions on the faces of the dancers

“Melancholy” African American portraits cloth on wood board18x24 oil on canvas. I have always been fascinated by how ballerinas can contort their bodies in ways that seem to defy muscle and bone. Art meets rigorous discipline and skill. The narrative literally resides in the body and ballerinas literally take us on a journey via their performance. I tried to capture this sentiment with pallet knife and oil paint on this canvas.