Béatrice Lebreton, Nyota, acrylic, African fabric on unstretched canvas, 53 X 70 inches.

Béatrice Lebreton September 3

Inspired by the African Diaspora, Béatrice Lebreton sources both her multicultural heritage and current events as she creates work that encourages the viewer’s engagement and interpretation. Working primarily in mixed media, Lebreton combines textiles, stitched and beaded surfaces with painted sections on the canvas as a means of commemoration and interaction. The patterns, fabrics, and beads become a focal motif that add a tactile touch and fuse into what she characterizes as a language stretched between the limits of the imaginary and history. Still, storytelling is quite important to her practice, as evidenced by combining text into the composition. She engages viewers visually on multiple levels while creating a space for curiosity in examining the information embedded within the work.

Unapologetically, Lebreton celebrates womanhood. Throughout her body of artistic expressions, she shatters the stereotypes women are born into and illustrates growth and change. Her art carries connotations of identity, social discomfort, feminism, representation, and transformation. Her work is in private collections throughout the United States and France. Exhibitors include the Art Institute of Chicago, Winston-Salem State University, the African American Museum in Dallas, Dallas Visual Arts Center, Woman Made Gallery Chicago, Columbia University, and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, among others. Likewise, Lebreton has amassed a portfolio to include public art commissions for hospitals, hotels, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York, VIA Metropolitan Transit system in San Antonio and the University of Oregon University, to list a few. She has been featured in the American Art Review, the Dallas Morning News and the International Review of African American Art, in addition to other noted publications. Equally, Lebreton has garnered broadcast media attention appearing on local affiliates of national news programming from ABC, CBS and NBC. Lebreton is a French native presently based in Harlem. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a Master of Ethno-aesthetic, with a concentration in African Art from La Sorbonne University.

Richmond Agamelah, The Love Cycle

Richmond Agamelah October 1

Richmond Agamelah is a contemporary artist from Ghana. Richmond uses his art to celebrate his identity and present new ways to approach Blackness. His portraits captivate serene poses and gazes. Using recycled material to paint portraits of Black men and women against a single-colored black background, Richmond leaves out patches of blank undercoat and allows them to freely and intentionally remain on portions of the faces. His latest collection Love Cycle seeks to promote Black love. The love cycle, between two people that are falling in love, are together as a couple in love, and in some instances fall out of love.