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art
by espy

context

To be Black in America is to always view the world around us as if looking through doors or through windows. Opportunity or isolation. With windows, we see other worlds, sometimes as a reflection, sometimes in unveiled truth.

Background is dominated by a dramatic, angular corner view of Radio City Music Hall shooting 10 stories into the sky before disappearing beyond the edge of the canvas. Perspective as though viewer is standing on adjacent street corner near building, looking up the length of skyscraper. View begins in lower portion of painting with infamous RADIO CITY Music Hall marquee wrapping around building close to street below, and illuminated in yellow, red, and blue neon. Wall to the left of Music Hall's corner is painted in thickly washed, bright streaks of red-orange, while the wall right of corner is bright lime green and partially shadowed. Superimposed on top of this background and covering almost the entire right half of the painting is the large, ghost-like portrait of a man gazing slightly down at viewer. He has a thick but neat black mustache, short brown hair, and smooth brown skin which seems to reflect the city lights behind. Though he is not smiling, his eyes are kind and mirthful. While his face is opaque, his torso becomes translucent and a black bow tie and white dress shirt are barely visible atop the brightly painted marquee behind. To the left of portrait a more defined mirror image of just the dress shirt and bow tie is superimposed over the left corner of the Music Hall marquee, and floats shoulder to shoulder with the man.

glass

48” X 36”
Oil on Wood Panel

string beans

48” X 36”
Oil on Wood Panel
SOLD

Portrait of a young woman with high cheek bones, short hair cut closely to her head, and smooth ebony skin highlighted in rose, gold and light blue. Her ruby red lips are relaxed and slightly parted over white teeth as she gazes languidly to her left past the viewer. She is wearing long earrings and a shiny, broad-collared leather jacket electrified in lavender and sky blue highlights. The background is expressive, excited streaks and dashes of goldenrod, white, forest green, blue, coral and dark grey. In the upper right corner of the painting a neon red MOTEL sign ringed in a thin, yellow neon light is depicted.

simply her

36” X 48”
Oil on Wood Panel

Full body portrait of a slender, shirtless man with a chiseled torso on a black and dark gray background. He is barefoot, wearing only dark trousers, and sits high atop a stool, facing viewer but slightly elevated, head thrown back on a strong, taught neck, eyes shut, and face and shoulders illuminated by an unknown light source from above. He has a thick, dark, goatee and a matching mane of bushy, wild hair.

live streaming

48" X 36”
Oil on Wood Panel

Abstract, urban landscape in tight one point linear perspective radiating from viewpoint in center of painting. A broad, black, two lane, city street lined in sky blue with the bars of a purple and sky blue crosswalk crossing it the foreground, recedes out of sight towards the painting's center. The dark underside of a bridge is perfectly mirrored above the street, creating a tunnel-like effect except for the open, golden area on the right of the canvas depicting the blurry, dark silhouette of a city skyline. A red and yellow traffic signal hovers at the center and red and golden orbs float above the street implying vehicle lights.

vessels

48” X 36” X 2”
Oil on Wood Panel

Full body portrait of a young boy with short hair cropped close to his head and dark sunglasses covering much of his face. His lips are pursed tightly in a hardened expression as he looks squarely at the viewer. His hands clasp two indecipherable items at his hips, in a stance resembling a Western cowboy reaching for his gun holster before a dual. He is wearing a yellow-green chef-style top, baggy dark trousers, and a brown belt with a round, silver Western-style buckle. The boy stands in an empty parking lot in front of a closed yellow and blue storefront with a red awning. A giant billboard or mural depicting just the upper half of a human face rises above the store front behind the boy and covers the entire upper half of the painting.

writing on the wall

48" X 36” X 2”
Oil on Wood Panel

Urban landscape in one point linear perspective of a hazy, darkened, four lane city street lined in somewhat obscured vehicles and tall buildings on both sides. The street recedes into the center of the painting towards the silvery outline of NYC's Freedom Tower as it ascends high into a light gray sky.

freedom tower

24" X 24"
Oil on Wood Panel

Energetic and vibrant abstract urban landscape depicting the obscured blur of a busy city street. Tall swaths of dark blue and gold rise into the background, accented by thin, bright white lines implying street lights. Thin, uninterrupted lines of red curve around the bottom of the canvas and recede into the background. The most distinguishable feature of the work is a multi-storied pink billboard depicting a face with purple hair, pink glossy lips, and black sunglasses in the upper right quadrant of the viewing plane.

premier

24" X 24"
Oil on Wood Panel
SOLD, 1 reproduction available

The charcoal-toned, athletic backside of a bare torso, visible only from the back of figure's head to just below waist, in a dance posture with left arm stretched off canvas above the figure's head, right arm stretched down and off canvas to the right, and every muscle defined in expressive, strong brush strokes, dominates almost the entire viewing plane. Torso appears to be painted on the surface of a multi-story gold and blue wall that towers above a small, rectangular door in the lower left corner of the painting. A red and white sign that says AILEY DANCE in small black letters is depicted above the door. The tiny silhouette of a human figure is depicted standing under the huge mural against the wall in an empty parking lot next to the door.

ailey dance

36" X 24”
Oil on Wood Panel

Shadowed portrait of a man's face. Man is facing viewer at a close proximity and cups his chin and mouth with his left hand, as though in deep, inquisitive thought. Though the skin tone and features of his face and hand are detailed in brown, red, and golden highlights, his hair and clothing are undefined, opaque, black silhouetted shapes on a green background.

devotion

48" X 36” X 2”
Oil on Wood Panel

Full body portrait of a tall, slender, shirtless male with athletic build, a dark goatee and bushy, dark, unkempt hair. Man is sitting at an adjacent angle to viewer on an orange seat next to the silver, metallic wall of a subway car. His hands are on his knees which are spread apart in dark trousers, his white shirt draped from his right knee and grazing the floor. Though his face is blurred, he appears to be dosing. A rainbow of colored graffiti and pop art covers the train wall behind and beside the sleeping figure.

third act

24" X 24"
Oil on Wood Panel

A colorful, happy mural, depicting the torsos of two young women with beaming, toothy smiles, wearing sunglasses and bikini tops, clasping each other's shoulders in a one-armed, sideways hug and facing viewer as though taking a photo for a postcard, is painted on the multi-storied, sky blue exterior wall of a building. The tiny silhouettes of two women in bright coats and hats stand in front of the mural in the lower left corner of the painting, demonstrating the mural's giant scale. Behind the heads of the women in the mural are the words "Visit Coney Island" in yellow and blue block and scroll lettering.

visit coney island

36" X 48” X 2”
Oil on Wood Panel

Portrait of a man in a royal blue chef's smock, holding the corner of a silver table with his left hand, facing viewer and smiling as though mid chuckle. His head is tightly wrapped in a red bandana so that no hair is visible. Several empty, long-stemmed glasses of various shapes are on the table in front of him in lower quadrant of viewing plane. Kitchen in background is painted in white, blue and light gray impressionistic brush strokes.

chef marshall

48" X 36” X 2”
Oil on Wood Panel

Portrait of a slender shirtless man with a thin, black mustache and goatee, and bushy ringlets of dark curly hair that falls just to his shoulders. Man is wearing dark denim pants and is seated on a small stool facing viewer with his left hand on his waist and his right elbow and forearm resting across his right upper thigh. He is visible from his knees up, with his eyes closed, leaning on to his right elbow in a seemingly exhausted or saddened posture. In the background behind the figure, stretching floor to ceiling in the right side of the painting, is a large, bordered rectangle depicting the tops of city buildings, as though figure has his back to a window or a piece of artwork. The other half of the background is a partially shadowed, light gray wall.

isolation

24" X 24"
Oil on Wood Panel

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