Untitled by Saul Algeria
Acrylic on canvas, 2019
40 x 40"

Saul likes animals and video games. But, really, who doesn't? What makes Saul different from you and I though is he's able to get his obsessions down rather quickly and beautifully on paper. Although Saul's watercolors are hugely popular he also works in ceramics, creating mostly icons found in, yes, video games.

Untitled by Mireya Betances
Mixed media on canvas, 2018
16 x 20"

Mireya Betances sorts through her environment for images and text to use in her work. Whether it's an ad in a magazine or a completed drawing from another artist all is fair play. Mireya's work is mimetic in nature, but the results - often with essential letters missing or the scale out of whack - are uniquely hers.

Untitled by Lisa Blevens
Embroidery on unprimed, stretched canvas, 2019
26 x 24"

Lisa Blevens frequently peppers her figurative work to overflowing with brightly colored hearts, bunnies, stars and flowers floating on minimal fields of color. The maximalism of her images gives an early impression of abstraction.

Untitled by Deatra Colbert
Graphite on paper, 2018
8 x 6"

Deatra Colbert shows her fandom of sports entertainment primarily on paper, though she works across numerous media. Her drawings obsessively detail the goings-on of her favorite athlete/actors. Buried within the dense schemata of her works are names, phrases and important dates from various match-ups. And like professional wrestling, Deatra's works are a lively celebration of the continuing battle between good and evil.

Untitled by Julio Del Rio
Acrylic on canvas, 2017
30 x 30"

Julio Del Rio's work depicts a small militia of powerful and strange, sometimes humanoid, figures (often ceramic, but frequently seen on paper or canvas as well). Some are based on modern and post-modern sculptures by the likes of Jeff Koons or Georg Condo. Many of the figures sport a skin etched with text or symbols, creating a connection back in time with the terracotta warriors of ancient China. But, unlike the uniform drabness of the funerary sculptures, Del Rio's pieces are painted and glazed in a burst of colors.

Untitled by Luis Estrada
Mixed media on canvas, 2019
30 x 30"

Upon first encounter with Luis Estrada's work it is evident that the artist is obsessed with the weather. His paintings and drawings are peppered with meteorological symbols and diagrams. One quickly notices that entangled among the weather forecast is information about the local train systems - freight and transit - as well as images from professional wrestling. The works seem to be one man's attempt at grappling with and controlling the quotidian deluge of information cast at us.

Untitled by Felicia Griffin+Michael Bailey
Acrylic on canvas, 2019
24 x 24"

Felicia Griffin began creating at NIAD at age 22 in 1985. Proficient and prolific in numerous art mediums - from printmaking to painting to sculpture - her work uses an economy of materials, while featuring a rhythm and vibrancy all her own.

While Michael Bailey's time at NIAD was short, his friendship - and collaboration - with Felicia Griffin yielded ethereal color field paintings in which their conversation takes visual form.

Untitled by Raven Harper
Acrylic on canvas, 2019
30 x 40"

Raven Harper's work explores the African American experience. In ceramics or fiber, Harper captures likenesses of Tupac and his mother, Smokey Robinson and Rosa Parks, connecting her present with a glorious and sometimes overlooked past.

Untitled by Nathan Lam
Graphite on paper, signed and dated by artist on verso, 2019
13 x 19"

Untitled by Julie MacDonald
Graphite on paper on wood panel, 2016
9 x 12 x 1.5"

Julie MacDonald's work is exploration of contemporary abstraction, whether it's the gridded quilt-like patterns of her Mission School-influenced geometric drawings or her more psychedelic, but equally vibrant meanderings in ceramics.

Life by Sara Malpass
Glazed ceramics, 2017
8 x 4 x .5"

Sara Malpass' works, particularly the daily lists on notebook paper, isolate an exploration of written language in visual art that is uncommon in that of mainstream contemporary artists, but prominent in the works of so-called outsiders. Her reductive, pragmatic language most often culls words from her current reading material or immediate interests, her piles of lists culminating as a living personal archive central to her prolific creative practice.

Untitled by Erika Martinez
Wallhanging of mixed media, fabric and embroidery, 2017
19 x 24"

Although often figurative in nature, Erica Martinez' work features a flatness of space first espoused by Picasso. Her portrait paintings sport a vibrant palette that seems to blast the image off of any intended picture plane.

Untitled (P1000) by Karen May
Mixed media on found painting, 2019
24 x 18"

Karen May's work is almost funerary in nature, seeking to recapture the memories of her past. For more than a half-century May lived with her mother and father and memories of this seemingly idyllic time tend to haunt her work. Her paintings are often depictions of the home they shared. Her sculptures are recreations of her family.

Angela Davis by Halisi Noel-Johnson
Linocut print, open edition, 2017
15 x 22"

Halisi Noel-Johnson's work - primarily in figurative printmaking - captures images of well-known African American icons and personalities. Recently, she has crafted likenesses of former president Obama and poet Maya Angelou.

Wallhanging by Maria Radilla
Found fabric and thread, 2017
23 x 23"

Radilla's work is partly surreal - strange images floating on fields of color - and partly a celebration of her heritage - colorful birds and rejoicing burros. But, mainly her work is amazing.

Untitled by Dorrie Reid
Acrylic on canvas, 2019
20x30"

Drawing inspiration from diverse interests - including animals and the environment, identity, family history, and civil rights activism, Dorrie Reid's disarming works reflect a joyful approach to art-making. Endlessly imaginative, her artistic practice becomes a natural extension of memory and personal experience. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Dorrie Reid was first introduced to art-making early on in school, primarily through drawing. Reid has worked across a wide range of media over the past two decades. Recurring themes for Reid are significant seasons and times of year, as well as numerous iterations of the Black Panther slogan "All Power to the People," realized as text-based prints, drawings, and elaborate quilts.

Reid's first solo exhibition opens in May at Kapp Kapp Projects in Philadelphia.

Untitled by Shantae Robinson
Acrylic on canvas, 2016
24 x 36"

Oh man, does Shantae Robinson know how to use color. Her abstract paintings and drawings - often based on a grid structure - come alive with color, seeming to emit some sort of life vibrations.

Untitled by Jesus Salas
Acrylic on canvas, 2019
12 x 12"

Jesus Salas documents the interior of the bus that brings him to Art Center in graphite and sometimes marker on a found sheet of paper. Less frequently, and on the flip side of the page, he captures the exterior of the bus. And recently, he has begun to create paintings sporting a minimalist field covered atop with the numbers one to one hundred. Often the numerals become unclear or blurred due Salas' hurried layering.

Untitled by Tre'von Silva
Mixed media on canvas, 2019
24 x 18"

Tre'von Silva creates striking abstract paintings and works on paper. Whether his work layers gestural brushstrokes or torn paper collage elements, the immediacy and lyricality of his pieces have drawn a devoted audience even though Silva is just completing his second year of studio practice at NIAD.

Untitled (Trio) by Shana Harper
Ink on stained, stretched canvas, 2020
Three panels of 16 x 20" each

Over the last decade, Shana Harper has built an extensive body of prints often of a lyrical and floral design. Her leadership in NIAD's wider neighborhood - facilitating workshops at local libraries as well as at NIAD's neighbors, DPRC - has underscored Harper's position as an artist dedicated to her craft and to her community.

Untitled (Guitar) by Jonathan Velazquez
Mixed media, 2019
38 x 16 x 12"

Jonathan Velazquez's work - both on paper, canvas and in performance - explores the possibilities of celebrity, with the razor like observations of a chameleon. He creates work focusing and transmuting the obsessive qualities of pop music fandom into art objects and performances. Velasquez crafts his numerous artistic personas from musicians and bands that he connects with on various levels - his slate of performers includes Michael Jackson as well as Espinosa Paz, Los Tigres and Daddy Yankee.

Velasquez's performance work will be included in an upcoming exhibition this June at Richmond Art Center.

(Lamp) by Jeremy Burleson
Rolled paper, glue, paint and marker, 2020
29 x 10 x 11"

With masking tape and paper, Jeremy Burleson has built a flood of highly detailed medical instruments - hyper-realistic and quasi-workable versions of stethoscopes, ventilators and syringes. Burleson also works out his interest in all things medical on paper, often combining figures with rows of bottles, syringes and balloons. It's unclear where his obsession stems from, but it's obvious that his focus on medically related subject matter walks a fine line between fascination and repulsion.