'May I Check Your Life Please'

September 1999 (15"x20") colored and graphite pencil

This may seem a little confusing at first. This drawing, in a strange way, represents my life as an artist, where I got the idea to go in this direction, and what I want to say with art. Long story short, it represents Chicago, where I was a music student, struggling with what I was thinking was a mistake to choose this major over Chemistry, my third best subject. I didn't handle the struggle that well, hiding behind my horn and looking for comfort in the bottom of a bottle. Art and a grandmother who at the time had confidence in me came to my rescue. But, I faced a new challenge when I first attempted to show my art. You see, there was, at the time at least, a common idea in NY art galleries that 'black' people should do 'black' art. Many people told me they couldn't sell pictures of white people by a black man. I will never look at art that way. I draw. If you're interesting to me I couldn't care what 'color' you are. And I hate being told what to do, just ask my grandmother...on the left are what can be called 'Afro-centric' faces. William Johnson's 'Street Musicians' 1942, which is a favorite of mine, stands on the bottom casting the shadow of what I'm supposed to draw to make money and a name for myself. On the right you can see what I've drawn, PEOPLE, not black, white, magenta with green spots, just people....