Jay Durrah
National Caribbean American Heritage Month, 2017
Jay Durrah
Exhibiting Artist
Calvary Episcopal Church
820 6th St NE, Washington, DC 20002
June-July, 2017
Exhibiting Artist
Calvary Episcopal Church
820 6th St NE, Washington, DC 20002
June-July, 2017
|
Bio
|
Artist Statement
|
|
Jay Durrah is a self-taught artist from Western PA who has been sketching since the age of nine. His grandfather noticed his skills and asked him to draw the sketch in the TV Guide. It was an ad in the journal for an art institution that stated, “ If you can draw this, you too can be an artist Jay is drawn to creating portraits. He starts most portraits with the eyes for he believes they capture the essence of a person’s being. Jay’s burgeoning style strategically places patches of vibrant oil colors on canvas to form beautiful faces. The use of multiple colors represents the multiracial aspect of humans. No one is of a pure race; people have much more in common than the differences society tries to emphasize.
Through his art, Jay would like people to focus on the commonality of humanity. This gifted artist had some formal training at the Corcoran School of Art and the Montpelier Arts Center. Jay has shown his work at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery in DC, Sun Trust Banking Center in Richmond, VA, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, The Essence Music Festival, the Lincoln Center in Manhattan, The Three Rivers Art Festival in Pittsburgh, the African Art Festival in Chicago, Walton Gallery in Petersburg, VA, the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Capitol One Corporate Offices in Richmond, the Capital Jazz Fest in Maryland, Busboys and Poets Restaurant in Shirlington, Virginia, Howard University in DC, the National Harbor in Maryland, the Pittsburgh Playwright Theatre in Pennsylvania the Lakefest Art Festival in Maryland, the Hyattsville Art Festival in Maryland, Artomatic in No. Virginia and Annie’s Gallery in Maryland. Jay’s recent shows include the US Embassy in Rome, Italy, May 2016, a duo artist show at Gallery ‘O’ on H in DC, June 2016, and a Solo show at the Lamar Art Gallery in Barnesville GA, Jan- Feb 2017. The Community of Hope in SW DC and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission have added Jay’s work to their permanent collections. |
"I am a modern day impressionist. who paints portraits of people using multiple layers of vibrant oil and sometime acrylic colors applied generously to the canvas. When I work with multiple layers of color in my portraits, I am reminded of the multiple layers of ethnicities that make us uniquely beautiful. I notice that all ethnic groups are drawn in by my application of colors. It is my aspiration, that if just only for those few moments, people can focus on the beauty of humanity; forgetting about the divisions of society.
My subjects are based on my interests. I love history and other art forms such as music and dance. I also see beauty in faces I see daily. I prefer to work in oils on large canvases; however, oils dry slow and large canvases take up space. Depending on my time or space limitations, I am appreciating acrylics on smaller canvases more and more. The majority of my pieces are done with a flat brush, which allows me to get the detail I desire. On occasion, I substitute the flat brush for a palate knife, which increases the texture of the piece, while decreasing the amount of detail. I apply paint generously to raise the images off the canvas, almost giving them a 3 dimensional look. In some of my recent works, I am applying my colorful short stroke technique to canvases painted with black gesso as a base. This forces me to apply lighter colors and leaving the black to define my details. I am using smaller canvases until I master the effect. So far, I am pleased with the outcome. I am considered a self-taught artist, which simply means my post-secondary training was in something else other than art. I have a degree in Political Science with a minor in Print Journalism. I received the nicest compliment recently when I told another artist I was self-taught. He said, “you had a good teacher.” I was not expecting that, so it took me a minute before I could thank him. Although I give all praises due to the Creator for my gift, the term self-taught is somewhat of an overstatement. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge my junior high and high school art teachers. As an adult, I have taken non-credit art courses from the Corcoran in DC and Montpelier in MD. I first recognized some artistic skill as a young boy around nine. I would draw the cartoon in the TV Guide that was an ad for an art school. The caption under the animated squirrel said something like, “if you can draw this, you too can be an artist.” My grandfather would encourage me to continue drawing. I started painting in high school. I remember my first attempt at acrylics did not go so well. I painted a picture of a woman but I was not use to the consistency of the paint. My senior year, I tried painting again, but his time with oils. I found the colors were easier to blend. I did a portrait of super model Iman and my first self-portrait. I did not do any painting in college or the rest of the 80s. I would draw frequently then. I guess I was honing my skills. I feel that the root of a good painting is a good drawing. In the 90s, whenever I sat still long enough to be creative, I would draw with pastels or paint with watercolors. I love watercolor, but it is less forgiving. Eventually I would like to return to using watercolor. For years, I treated my gift as nothing more than a hobby I relied on when I was board. This changed when I got laid off from my six-figure job at Verizon in 2009. Before then, my excuse was I never had enough time. After the layoff, I had nothing but time, and it was my art that became my refuge when worries about the uncertain future would arise. It was actually my art, and Philippians 4:19, “But my God Shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I would repeat the bible verse, and tell myself to go paint when I did not know what else to do. My circumstances eventually got better. I started really appreciating art while at Howard University and thereafter. Besides the Masters like Romare Bearden and Jacob Lawrence, I was inspired by local artists such as Larry Poncho Brown, Michael A Brown and John Nelson. Recently the art of Al Burts really inspires me to strive for excellence. I like Bearden and Lawrence for their use of bold colors. Poncho’s early images were almost photo like with his depictions of various shades people of color. Michael Brown’s surrealism and detail fascinated me. John Nelson’s pencil drawings gave me hope that with more practice my sketches might look as good. Al Burts use of the ballpoint pen to create meticulous portraits and figures on wood and canvas always blows me away. When I first started painting, I strived to be a photo realist, meaning I wanted my pieces to look like photographs. I often sketched from photographs, magazine photos and table top photography books. It was for practice to see how well I could replicate the photos. As I got better and people started to ask to purchase these pieces, I realized I was copying someone else’s art, although they were photos. I began slightly changing the pieces to make them my own. The changes eventually became variations of colors. I took a watercolor class once where we could only use primary colors in the figure paintings. This added a new dimension to my portraits. When I decided to become a serious artist, I was looking for a unique style. I loved multiple colors and thought about how zoomed in computer images looked. I could see many mini squares of colors that when zoomed out made an even color tone. My paintings use a similar concept in that when you are close, you just see colors. When you back away, the image becomes clearer while the colors blend in to tones. I mainly focus on light and darks when selecting color placement. To create a masterpiece, takes a lot of thought and preparation. First I have to come up with a concept. What should I paint? What canvas should I use? Should I paint with oils or acrylics? The latter generally depends on how much time I have before the next show. I sometimes paint images from my head. Other times, I paint people I know. At times, I still use photographs of famous people or from books and magazines; however, my style is so unique they appear totally different from the photographer’s image. I found Youtube as a great source for rare images of individuals I paint. For instance, I froze a frame of Malcolm X laughing that I had to paint. My Mandella series is from a BBC interview I caught on Youtube. When searching for an image to paint, I am drawn to the way light and shadows bring out facial character. Strong contrasts in light and darks are my favorites. The strong lights and darks remind me of the good versus bad struggles in each of us. After I pick the size normally on a pre-stretched canvas, I do a pencil sketch to get a rough idea of the composition. Most of the time, I start with a small squeeze of dioxazine purple, which I use instead of black. I load my flat head brush up and make short strokes. When that paint is low, I mix in titanic white to work on the light areas. I continue with each color in my palate. I continue this way until no white from the canvas can be seen. A few paintings are minimalist pieces where I leave much of the canvas white, a few colors and the viewer’s imagination to see the image. The process is similar on black canvases but in reverse." 
|
