By John Trevino
First off I would like to thank God for blessing me with the
talent to conceive and create this painting as well as providing
me with the patience and strength to see it through to its completion.
Much respect goes out to Dr. Robinson, Ina Huggins and the Black
Studies Department for their trust and support on this project
from the beginning, even when the receipts kept coming with
no painting in sight. To Gerry Melendez and your photo skills,
what would this piece be without you and your camera?? (Me in
the library wit a buncha books basically). Oh and on that tip,
crazy dap goes out to Sharon Bullard, the Associate Librarian,
who took my fines down from $800 to something I could look at
without passing out. Shout out to my mom who took it in stride
when my painting was crammed in the corner of our apartment
for the summer I was home doing an internship. To Peter Bouckaert
for letting me know the department was looking for some art
to put on the wall. To all the teachers who let me take this
as a #199 and graded me on what they could. Special thanks to
Anthony and the Parker family (Samantha, Patrice, and Dewey)
from 107th St. along with Megan Holloway for modeling for the
bottom right corner... Y'all are the future. To Richard Ross
of Art Studio for letting me use the lab to print and to Paul
Prince for the Plexiglas and letting me hang this thing up wet
the morning of the student show. To anyone I forgot, you know
who you are and what you did-thank you. Finally, to Janelle
Williams for all her help getting my garage-studio together
and for all her love, encouragement, and understanding along
the way. On another level now, I gotta recognize the life and
work of artists, past and present, whose expressions and insights
have inspired me and my work. I'm talkin' 'bout people like
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Augusta Savage, Richmond Barthe, Hughie
Lee Smith, Eldzier Cortor, Charles White, John Biggers and Renee
Stout. Of course it doesn't stop there though. Equally, if not
more important to me, are the artists who express themselves
musically. People like A Tribe Called Quest on down to Dizzy
Gillespie. I've asked Marvin Gaye if he can feel it in his soul
and checked with Sade to see if the colors are rich enough for
her. Shouts out to KRS-ONE, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob
Marley, Umar Bin Hassan, Billie Holiday, De La Soul, Ronnie
Jordan, Paris, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Sweet
Honey in the Rock, Gil Scott-Heron, Ella Fitzgerald, Digable
Planets, Guru, Spearhead, X Clan, Arrested Development, Buckshot
Lefonque, Sounds of Blackness, Thelonius Monk, Sun Ra, Sonny
Rollins, Kam and everyone else I listened to who kept me up
during those 3 and 4 o'clock in the a.m. stretches-your work
is like soul food. |
