multi-media paper | gel pen

“The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.”

-Stephen Nachmanovitch

16’ x 16’ canvas | acrylic

“Miracles happen to those who believe in them.”

-Bernard Berenson

sketchbook | pencil | gel pen

Every time I lie down, all my layers spill out…

sketchbook | gel pen

“I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.”
― Jonathan Safran Foer

24’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic
“Time is an artist; it reveals the masterpiece hidden within every passing moment.”
-Aloo Denish Obiero

24’ x 24’ canvas | mixed media | acrylic

“Beyond this visible world, there is an invisible world striving to manifest, and it is our job to uncover it.”

-D. Scot Miller

Over the years I’ve created a distinct style for my artwork but never had the language to describe it. A while ago I discovered that language and found a new sense of self and understanding. I found that many before me have been creating in the same vein and coined it AFRO SURREALISM. After doing some research and reading, I felt seen and understood in a way I never had before. A fresh battery has been in my back since and I’m excited to embark on this journey to explore my voice in this style.

I started this piece with the question “what is Afro surrealism ?” Not looking for definitions but more of a feeling… an inner knowing .

-AG”

16’ x 20’ canvas | air dry clay | hot glue | thread | acrylic

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

-Saint Augustine

14’ x 14’ canvas | acrylic

fear I’m better as concept than in consumption
Better left an ideal than to realize how real I am
How imperfect I tend to be

How I’m constantly tripping over myself like a drunk centipede

How my thoughts be wild horses on a stampede in the moonlight

How I should’ve called you that night
Or picked up my phone that morning

No.

I’m best as a whisper in the wind spoken in your foremothers native tongue

Although you were never taught how to speak the language
you know to listen when you hear it

Know to lean in when you feel it

Do you feel it ?

Just like the wind I’m everywhere and nowhere
Only to be experienced in moments
Broken up by stillness …

-AG”

a series of pages in a sketchbook

It was a serendipitous Sunday
They were just two souls searching for something in an oasis of books
Seeking refuge from the busy block and even busier world
Just a guy and a girl sharing an aisle but on islands of their own

They met at a bookstore

In the blink of an eye their islands collided
Time turned to meadows the moment they joined hands
Flowery and full of life
Love found them in a museum
In a kiss they found forever

They met at a bookstore

They fell in love
Folded into each other like Sunday laundry
Found home in each others arms
Flowery and full of life
Now husband and wife they built a life on an island of their own

They met at a bookstore…

48’ x 60’ canvas | mixed media collage

“Black women make me feel invincible. It’s the way that we walk, the way that we talk, our soul, our sway, our grace, our roots. It’s our secret language with one another, the WAY, we uplift each other at our best and our worst.”
- Solange Knowles

16’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
-Harriet Tubman

18’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic
“There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

20’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic
“Even sorrow has its silver lining, as the emotion that capacity to love, and to be loved.”
Rob Kazak

14’ x 14’ canvas | acrylic
“Painting is the passage from the chaos of the emotions to the order of the possible.”

-Balthus

10’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic
“Fish will never be afraid of living in the ocean, no matter how deep it is.”
Matshona Dhliwayo

16’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

“Finding ways to unwind and switch off is just as important as working very hard.”

-Francesca Hayward

Alignment series

16’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

“I hug my knowing soul and am awakened to the spirit within.”
― Jodi Livon

Alignment series

16’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

“I hug my knowing soul and am awakened to the spirit within.”
― Jodi Livon

20’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

“There are more glorious days ahead, this should be your joy for today.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

20’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic
” It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. perfect tranquility within consists in good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own”

-Marcus Aurelius

20’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

"I need to see my own beauty and to continue to be reminded that I am enough, that I am worthy of love without effort, that I am beautiful, that the texture of my hair and that the shape of my curves, the size of my lips, the color of my skin, and the feelings that I have are all worthy and okay."
- Tracee Ellis Ross

10’x20’ + 10’x20’ canvas | acrylic

“In this lifetime we meet and part like passing clouds”

-Meeta Ahluwalia

30’ x 40’ canvas | acrylic

“Goodness will guide me. When love is inside me. Until then, Life's a parade."

-Prince

20’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

“It's a bizarre but wonderful feeling, to arrive dead center of a target you didn't even know you were aiming for.”

-Lois McMaster Bujold

gel pen in sketchbook

I'm not saying that everyone should swim with sharks, but sometimes you have to jump over your own shadow in order to learn something that you will never forget for the rest of your life. Then you know you can conquer your fears.

-Heidi Klum

48’x48’ canvas | acrylic & marbles

my biggest and most TIME-CONSUMING piece yet! After months and months of painting and repainting, artist blocks, and feeling every emotion, I created something I’m truly proud of and love. This piece ended up being inspired by Kehlani’s song “Be Alright”. That song has literally saved my life more times than I can count, it’s a timeless reminder to keep faith and keep going! IT’LL BE ALRIGHT! This was the most time I’ve spent on one piece, and it was really transformative for me.

-AG”

18’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic

the act of rising to an important position or a higher level first takes making a choose …

…then action

-AG”

18’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic

the act of rising to an important position or a higher level first takes making a choose …

…then action

-AG”

14’ x 14’ canvas | acrylic

“The ocean is a mighty harmonist.”

– William Wordsworth 

16’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

The most intelligent alien civilization lives on the edge of the universe.

-T.J Reese Art 

20’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

At our best we are LOVE, at our worst we are still trying 

-AG”

24’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic

I don’t have any quotes or poetic words to explain my feelings during this time. I am devastated, disappointed but not surprised by the hate and bigotry in the world. My community is under fire on a global stage right now. However, we are the dreams and prayer of our ancestors, resilience and perseverance are our inheritances. We may burn but we are always reborn in the flames. 

-AG”

10’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

The little brown baby was born from the dreams and prayers of its ANCESTORS WRAPPED in the BLOOD-STAINED COTTON THE seed of strange fruit hasn’t been given what this land has PROMISED THE promisers were never honest with no intent to REPENT SO the little brown BABY, seed of strange fruit rebels and raises hell and closed FIST HOLDING up the hypocrisy in the face of hostility.

-AG”

24’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic & gouache

“When the blood in your veins returns to the sea, and the earth in your bones returns to the ground, perhaps then you will remember that this land does not belong to you, it is you who belong to this land.”

-unknown

24’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic | gouache

this piece was inspired by the Black love that filled 90’s sitcoms

-AG”

24’ x 36’ canvas | acrylic & gouache

“Let the waves carry you where the light cannot.”

– Mohit Kaushik

10’ x 20’ canvas | acrylic

“I don’t smoke weed to escape reality; I smoke weed to enjoy reality even more.”

– unknown 

24’ x 24’ canvas | acrylic

“It is better to have your head in the clouds and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them and think that you are in paradise.”

-Henry David Thoreau 

16’ x20’ canvas | acrylic

“Wisdom is nothing more than the marriage of intelligence and compassion. And, as with all good unions, it takes much experience and time to reach its widest potential.”

-Vera Nazarian

This piece isn’t a couple. It’s a representation of the feminine and masculine energies in true alignment creating a divine union of SELF.

-AG”

30’x40’ canvas | acrylic

“Her tears watered her garden...” Like most of my PIECES, this is a reflection of my CONSCIOUSNESS. This one is more introspective than other. For me roses represent our truest yet most protected selves. None of my signature roses are every identical, because our personal experiences are beyond unique to us and our development. Sunflowers stand alone always staring down the sun and growing to unimaginable heights. They represent our highest and most free selves. “Stay Gold” is a quote from The Outsiders I’ve carried during my darkest days and got tattooed with a semicolon when I needed it the most. I didn’t want to exist anymore ... I wanted to live. Shortly after, I started drawing again and The Hood Hippies was born. My tears watered my garden and staying gold saved my life. I’m so thankful for all the highs and lows, support and disappointments because through it all I grow.

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

My features are only accepted if they are not on me. What would your beauty be without me. Made in my image, how dare you not see me as God.

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

“An elephant does not get tired carrying his trunk.”

-Burundi Proverb

Nor does he grow weary of the whispers in the wind

he listens closely for the lost loved ones

whom tombs be time

be tusk tough to find

be trunk memory

but an elephant never forgets

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | watercolor pencil | gel pen 

learning to love yourself can feel like cocooning and emerging bettered by the past 

-AG”

6.5 x 10 multi-media paper | gel pen | watercolor 

True peace comes when one is alignment with their purpose in all aspects of life. 

Being mindful of and balancing the chakras is a path to finding alignment.

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | watercolor | gel pen 

being opened minded can feel like living in two brains;

what will be and what has been.

-AG”

5.5 x 8.5 multi-media paper | graphite pencil 

to be one with self and surroundings is to be unbothered. She’s nude literally and figuratively and at peace.

-AG”

16’ x 20’ Canvas | Acrylic

In astrology Venus is the “pleasure” planet. It governs courtship and adoration, as well as personal taste and aesthetics. Venus represents your values, including your relationship with finances and material possessions. retrograde motion is an illusory side-effect of planetary proximity. This piece represents an interpersonal change after a wave of external changes.

-AG”

16’ x 20’ Canvas | Acrylic

Paid in Full is one of my all time favorite movies and Ace is probably my favorite “character” of all time. the 3 act structure takes us through his growth but also shows us how he never lost himself in the game. I left him faceless because I see him in so many black boys and I want them to see THEMSELVES. Ace was thoughtful in his decision MAKING, cared about his people, and knew who he WAS. Through it all Ace Stayed Gold in the face of adversity.

-AG”

16’ x 20’ Canvas | Acrylic

Relationships don’t always end cleanly and with closure. Sometimes we are left with only ourselves watching the sun set in a limbo state somewhere between love and HATE. 

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

Within us lives a sunflower and a rose.

Our sunflower is the best versions of ourselves.

Always growing toward our highest light

Our rose is the beauty of our traumas.

every petal a different scar.

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

much like sunflowers the purest heart has to grow through a lot of darkness in search of the light

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen

embody the rose

manifest the sunflower

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

to be in love is to be one; to accept what was and embrace what will BE. THEY have lived layers apart… intertwined in time…

sun crossed lovers

-AG”

8.5 x 5.5 multi-media paper | gel pen 

we make islands of ourselves

in search of self

isolated in solace

the soul speaks volumes in silence

-AG”