Academy of Beauty and Culture

This painting is called Academy of Beauty and Culture. It was sparked by encountering Kerry James Marshall’s Untitled at his Royal Academy show in London in Summer of 2025. I loved the way he is intentional about how he depicts blackness with the brush. But this new show moved me - not just because of the scale or confidence or even the immense body of the work, but because of how plainly it asks us about our intentions for cultural spaces, galleries and museums.

Let’s sit with that question. Who decides what belongs on gallery walls? Who drives the conversations about what we frame as “beautiful art?” Who controls the narratives on taste?

I borrowed the title of this painting in spirit from another impressive piece that completely stopped me in my tracks. Marshall’s School of Beauty, School of Culture depicts a quiet everyday scene while carrying so many layers of meaning.