Through my art, I amplify ideas of social class, race, police brutality, corrupt government, death, as well as themes related to black culture, to show that black men and women are targets. My Jamaican-American background, my community of Jamaica, Queens, old family photos, and memories all influence the way I construct a portrait.

Thinking of all the ways imprisonment is used to suppress black men and women, I explore the depth of illusion, allowing sketched and collaged figures from my everyday life, to become a gateway into another world where these figures survive, despite the fragility of the environment. I aim to spark questions about the hierarchy of images and materials used in painting by questioning the importance of the subject of an image against the background, and the materials used to explore the possibilities of constructing an image.

website: bugzdale.com