““Our homes were very decorative, full of pattern, like inexpensive throw rugs, all around the house,” Lawrence said of his own home and those of others in his community. “It must have had some influence, all this color and everything. Because we were so poor, the people used this as a means of brightening their life. I used to do bright patterns after these throw rugs; I got ideas from them, the arabesques, the movement, and so on.” ”

The Jonathan Boos Gallery

In the ‘post digital’ age it has become de rigueur to refer to the work of artist such as, Hopper, Hockney, Magritte and Sheeler, even to the extent of collaging cutout figures from their painting into one’s drawings. It’s typical to see these found figures pasted onto a flat background of textures, surrounded by the obligatory house plants. All rendered with a painterly touch.

We wondered about broadened the based of references to include Black painters and African art, in order not only to critique this aesthetic but to continue the conversation about representation of all forms in art and architecture.

Lead Image above from Jacob Lawerence’s ‘The Lovers’.

Collage Study for The Interior of The pavilion of Stories - Featuring a figure from Jacob Lawerence’s MIgration Series.