The Richard Beavers Gallery will welcome its long awaited exhibit entitled “Working Together” with renowned African-American artist, Leroy Campbell, who is known for his paintings, which include silhouetted figures with elongated necked and faceless features coupled with collages of afro-centric periodicals, which instantly resonate with the viewer from a Black experience perspective.
During a time of political chaos and propaganda, art is the loud voice of many frustrated and suppressed people of color in communities from coast to coast like Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn to Oakland, California. Rather than channeling energy into the negative aspects of society, the purpose of this exhibit is to remind the Black community of our strong, historic roots of working together as collective ecosystem and uplifting each other on all levels from family to enterprise. Born with a severe birth detect of missing fingers and toes due to a medicine that was unethically tested on women, globally, in the 1950’s, Campbell has overcome adversity and disability, using these circumstances as fuel to create powerful art with intentional messaging.
“Working together in the Black community has been second nature for me. I have been doing it all my life. I will not give racism nor segregation the credit for that. The love, laughter, extended families, food, rhythms, music, beauty, spirit, and economic support have been life sustaining for me. I need the Black community to thrive so that I may continue to thrive. I am encouraged when I see Black people do well. I take the Black community with me all over the World. It makes it easy for me to walk freely and on purpose. This ongoing body of work has been created to encourage Black people to take advantage of the personal growth and self-empowering benefits they can receive when working together in the Black community. I love being Black I just hate what happens to us,” says Campbell.