BLOG: Ten (plus) living, brilliant black artists to follow online

One of my first articles at The Signal was a celebratory list of must follows in cosplay for Black History Month. This listicle explained what #28DaysofBlackCosplay was and listed 10 badass cosplayers. In spirit of this, and my irresistible desire to share more amazing black artists, here are 10 (and then some) black artists with stunning online work:

Geneve Bowers 

Illustration and comic

Bowers’ digital illustrations range in subject matter greatly and so vibrantly – especially the hair and highlight/undertones. I can’t remember when I came across her page, but it was an instant follow just on the hair texture rendering alone. She also has a webtoon entitled “Hover Girls,” that she began in the summer of 2019. The 25 issues are formatted for mobile and desktop. Additionally, she illustrates books like “Beyonce: Shine Your Light” and “Betty Before X.”

Blake Eason

Illustration

A few years ago during #MerMay, a challenge in which artists are encouraged to create art of perpeople throughout the month of May, I came across Eason’s work for the first time. This Michigan born artist has fantastical drawings of plus size women that I had not really seen, ever before. What struck me as I scrolled down his page is how “new” it was for me to see big women not all covered up, but as fairies and mermaid and warriors or just doing normal things. In addition to big, magical ladies, he also does stylized fan art and the occasional portrait.

Crewel_therapy

Fiber art and typography

Known online as crewel_therapy, they freehand stitch images and text relating to social justice and sex positivity into fabric. Occasionally these statements appear on objects other than fabric such as leaves, paper, fruit and the occasional condom.

Because of  what appears to be online suppression for the text and subject matter, their username often changes following a suspension or ban. The word “crewel” has been in most of their accounts.

Kervin Brisseaux

Illustration and design

If you have opened up Adobe Illustrator at all in 2019, then you have probably seen New York based artist Brisseux’s work. Born from the parents of Haitian immigrants, Brisseux’s work holds a distinct comic-like style over photos that has clear influences across pop culture from anime and manga to hip-hop and fashion. In addition to illustration, Brisseaux is a design director for Vault 49 and image blogger.

Carrie Mae Weems

Photography

Last February, my Black History Month art project involved highlighting #BlackExcellence behind the camera. This list included two directors and three photographers with Weems being one of them. Her “The Kitchen Table Series” immediately struck me as it features different relatable scenes at a dining room table. Growing up I didn’t have the “typical” scene, but I still understood how the dining room table was this type of multi purpose family space for many people. You can easily pitcure the conversations had there and related it to ones you’ve had – good and bad. Though she is best known for her photography, Weems has worked in a variety of mediums.

Kehinde Wiley 

Painting and sculpture

Wiley is probably one of the more famous people on this list due to being the artist to do the official Smithsonian portrait of President Barack Obama. His style is heavily influenced by the 1800s European styles most people associated with painting portraiture, but “highly melanated” and using extremely vibrant colors. 

Additionally, Wiley is known for his series “Rumors of War.” This series featured works looking at horses’ in “Western” art history canon and ended with a revealing of a large bronze sculpture in Times Square of a young, hooded black man wearing Nike’s and a hoodie riding a large horse. This was also a response to Confederate statues that litter public spaces.

Peo Mitchi

Illustration and animation

Self taught South African-Australia artist, Mitchi, colorful works usually range from cute couples doing cute things to very steamy groups doing … NSFW “group work.” Something that drew me to her work was the comic-like style and the use of fun colors in a muted, warm way.

Marissa Monique

Fiber and mixed media

Monique creates eco-friendly, handmade wearable art that includes things like tops and dresses and ranges from jewelry to slippers. Though I have not personally bought or worn any of her work (yet), I do look at her page and website sometimes for references or inspiration.

Lina Iris Viktor

Mixed media and painting

Viktor’s work may look a little familiar because it was tied up in a copyright issue with a Marvel movie, but I had been following her a few years before that film. The black and (real) gold paint over black/brown bodies is so striking. The British-Librerian’s work is beautiful from afar, but when you look close up you see hundreds of little pieces and shapes you can get lost in. Color is something that really draws me to work if you haven’t been able to tell from this list, but even with that being said, Viktor’s limited color palette is so striking that she is still one of my favorites.

Nuri Durr

Illustration

One of the most recent artists I have obsessed over — and the first one I found on Twitter before following him over to Instagram is Durr. This Atlanta artist based creates both realistic and cartoon-y work with mostly copic markers or on digital illustration programs. Much of the feed consists of things from pop culture, especially if it pertains to black media, cartoons or video games. Durr’s work is filled with bright colors, animated expressions, movement and lighting while also looking very soft with his medium of choice.

Bonus list of artists you can find online:

Nae (digital chibis), Mary Sibande (fiber) , Kara Walker (installation), Asiey Barbie (digital illustration),  Nikkolas Smith (digital illustration), Luena (crochet), Dapo Adeola (illustration) Dari Calamari (mixed media) Thaddeus William-Coates (digital illustration), Ashanti Fortson (Cartoonist) and Mel Milton (digital illustration).