Atlanta-based artist Gerald Lovell’s (b. 1992, Chicago, IL) painting practice hinges on biography. His monumental portraits depict intimate scenes often lost to the abyss of memory, turning human form through thick impasto application.

Lovell’s portraits refuse the notion that all Black figure paintings are somehow political. Rather, his work records a deep commitment to fostering alternative community narratives by imbuing his subjects with social agency and self-determinative power. His works are marked by quotidian subject matter while also revealing individualistic details that lay each figure’s essential humanity bare.