“PREY WITH ME”
EAT.PREY.LOVE. VOL. 1
- Sold for $2,500 (2023) to a private collector - Currently on exhibition at Cohiba Lounge in Bridgeport, CT
Date of creation: 07/2023
Size: 30 x 40” original
Medium/Materials: Acrylic and Oil | Level III Gallery Wrapped Canvas, Matte Varnish with Gloss Varnish on Frame
The Series:
Inspired by real heartbreak, this collection is titled, “Eat.Prey.Love.”, and explores the highs and lows that come with vulnerability, love capacity, mirror work, and healing.
Each painting is an interpretive piece of my experience of love and heartbreak. Striving to transmute relationship trauma through healing expression in art, I seal each painting with affirmations on where I stand years later reflecting on the relationships that molded me.
The Elements:
The frame - the use of frames came to me as a construction engineer if we’re being honest. The way I draw is rooted in my formal training at the College of Architecture and I use that as a foundation when I’m composing my paintings. Many of my collectors are stretching to purchase my art and taking a leap of faith that my art will continue to accrue in value. Knowing that I am always gracious and hungry in the pursuit of more technically ambitious uses of the craft. As I started raising my prices I came across collectors that wanted frames; Floating frames, shadow box frames, all types, shapes, and sizes of frames. The frames were a bit pricey for some of my newer collectors. “How can I offer that illusion of luxury in my paintings?”, I asked myself. “What if I painted the frame…” This became my signature move for high end commissions. I started to play with the ideas of frames. Different materials, perspectives or textures on the frames.
This was the first painting that I used a realism approach with. I used a vintage frame to match the style of furniture my ex depicted in her art and home. I used gold because it was her favorite accent color. My aim with this particular frame was to create so much detail the frame looked multidimensional like a real frame. I varnished it with gloss to provide a luster shine that contrasts with the center of the piece.
The heart - This part of the painting was inspired by a painting I had started as a tribute to my grandmother called “grandma’s hands”. It depicts an anatomical heart being held and planted into soil with my grandmothers hands over mine. It was the first painting I had attempted on wood panel, and my ex used to critique it often. Saying I needed more detail. This was the main inspiration behind me using a looser, graphic design style on the heart component in the painting. I wanted it to look like I’d designed it on the computer. I used pink for contrast with the purple background, which was chosen to give tribute to my favorite painting of my ex’s collection.
The hand - I’ve always been fascinated with hands. I had an art teacher tell me that every summer I should pick one body part and study it. I’ve been studying hands for about ten years because I never get tired of them. My goal with the perspective on this hand was to paint her hand holding my heart. I wanted it to look like her hand was coming out of the painting offering me back my heart. My passion for the love we shared, my artistry. She was a 90s lover just like me and always stepped out with adorned nails. I used NailsbyRayBaby, a prominent nail artist in Atlanta, for the design reference in this painting. While I have never directly referenced this artist and ex, if she ever saw this painting, she would know it was for her. And would recognize her own hand. I plan to continue this concept on the remaining volumes in this series.
The Inspiration:
This piece was inspired by real heartbreak. It was one of the hardest paintings I’ve ever done. So many emotions flowed through me over a period of 8 days that it took to paint this. Layered with oils and acrylics, I began with an assignment given to me by a trauma therapist - paint what you feel. A musician as much as an artist, I started naming my feelings with a song - “Be With You” by Mary J. Blige. This My Life album became the soundtrack that I kept on repeat as I painted and cried with the schedule of pouring out my emotions onto the canvas, eating, and then going for a walk on my freshly repaired achilles tendon. I was inspired deeply by the emotions that once set my heart on fire - the passion. The love I felt for this person was deeper than anything I’d experienced since childhood. We connected over artistry. Her passions, her music, her lifestyle, was all a reflection of mine… or at least the version of my life I was curating for this chapter in my life. We shared the most intimate past time together…painting. The colors, the nails, the reference, and the style, were all inspired by her favorite colors to paint with, favorite nail sets, favorite compositions. I wanted to paint something that even she would be impressed with. And as I worked relentlessly on executing a frame worth a double-take I grew angry. Anger was the fuel that drove the frame in the end. How dare she imply I wasn’t serious about my art? That I couldn’t produce a painting worth the prices I sold paintings for with ease. Jealousy. Working through the woes of the relationship I journeyed through the feeling of falling for her to the resentment I held in the way she left. She was jealous of my freedom. Jealous of my success. Jealous of my capacity to accept and love her imperfections? It no longer mattered. I was done. I sealed the canvas with words from Mary’s album. Signed it. And contemplated for about an hour on setting it on fire. Went for a walk. After that moment, I decided I would continue this work. I felt so much lighter. Like I could breathe again. This was the start of my journey as the artist I am today.
The inspiration for the next painting was a happy mistake. I brought Prey With Me to my birthday celebration at a cigar lounge where I’d hoped to showcase my art for the first time in a solo exhibition. The owner invited many business owners who I quickly discovered were art lovers. They took one look at my painting and began bidding on it. “Is it for sale?” “How much?” I hadn’t thought about selling it as it was so personal I didn’t think anyone would buy it. My entire career up to that point I had largely painted other people’s visions, not my own. To my surprise the owner that had offered his space up as the venue won the bids. Sold. “Leave it on the wall. It belongs there.” He said.
Later after the high of the night had settled I asked him, “what do you feel when you look at this painting that made you want to buy it?” He said, “Well, before I retired myself into the cigar business and real estate, I worked as a heart surgeon. I literally held hearts in my hands my entire career. So seeing this on the wall, it immediately reminded me of that in a new light. And brought me comfort. Pride even.” I knew instantly that I had found my true voice and calling as an artist. Something so dark and difficult had created this beautiful painting that now had a home with someone who saw something completely different when he looked at it. This painting would have an entirely different life with him. Be loved on differently than it would in my home. “Can I paint you another one with your hand? I feel it’s only right.” “Of course, and I will pay you for it.” That’s how I started painting “work that has depth and a clear vision". It all started with a feeling. He now owns both paintings and they are on exhibit in his lounge in Bridgeport, CT. I am still working on the series, but every one that I complete takes on a different meaning for the beholder. And I love that for them as much as I love it for me.
Past Exhibitions:
SOLO EXHIBITION (CT) - 07/2023
L.A. FASHION WEEK (CA) - 10/2023
BLACK GIRL ART SHOW (GA) - 08/2025
The third volume of my Eat.Prey.Love series, this floating heart is certainly an evolution from 2023. In both films, when Alphabe channels her strength to shield her sister the result is always levitation. I wanted to use this concept and apply it to the offering and reflection this heartbreak depicts.