Zion Todd
I find it interesting how I can be considered an artist. I have always been creative and enjoyed drawing, but it was just something I did for fun, I never felt like I was skilled enough to warrant the title. However, as I got older, I worked at my craft, worked harder than I ever really imagined I would. I spent late nights painting while listening to calming music. It became therapeutic, and I started to see myself in my paintings. Not just literally but figuratively. My pieces explore the depth and relationship between identity and society. I look introspectively and question where I fit into the bigger picture. I enjoy experimenting with architecture and cityscapes while strategically placing figures in expressive positions. I explore the black experience, the teenage experience, and I like to play with the idea of isolation in the environments I create. In my paintings, I am inclined to use bright saturated colors contrasted with darks so that certain portions pop and catch the eye. I try to make everything balanced. Within my portfolio, I have both saturated canvas paintings and black and white graphite sketches. I enjoy the concept of still lifes and the challenge that is recreating reality as I see it. I am able to be meticulous about each line and crease, which causes me to view the world through a more aware lens. I aim to offer perspective with my figures and the atmospheres I create by conveying emotions for each viewer to feel differently. Art allows me to be my most creative and expressive self and as I grow I will continue to create based on my thoughts, emotions, and wherever I may find myself in life.