Nina Simone

 

With songs like Mississippi Goddam, she energized the civil rights movement of the 1960s. We’ve been missing Nina Simone for some time now, but her music is still the perfect soundtrack to the protests of this past year.

Signed prints of this portrait are available here (in my Etsy shop)!

10% of proceeds from each print will be donated to Black Lives Matter.

James Gandolfini

 

He ruled this New Jersey turf with killer acting chops. This map not only represents some of the stomping grounds of his most iconic character (Tony Soprano), but also Mr. Gandolfini’s hometown of Westwood, New Jersey. His immense presence is sorely missed in this world.

Signed prints of this piece are available Here (in my Etsy shop)!

Kendrick Lamar

 

This Pulitzer-Prize winning musician comes to us, straight outta Compton.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

 

The son of a Haitian-immigrant father, and a mother who's family hailed from Puerto Rico, this acclaimed American painter has deep roots in in the Caribbean. No doubt, that rich background boils up in his spectacular paintings.  

                            Signed print of this portrait are available here, in my Etsy shop! 

The Beatles

While drawing this portrait, I kept imagining if this is what a Zoom call, in London, in 1968, might have looked like? No doubt, whenever these four musicians were on the same map, they changed our musical landscape in a most magical way.  

Sign prints of this portrait are available HERE (in my Etsy shop)!

 

War is over...if you want it  ~ John Lennon

Peace and love, peace and love   ~ Ringo Starr

Love is all you need  ~ Paul McCartney

With our love, we could save the world   ~ George Harrison

PJ Harvey

 

In this past year, I rediscovered the simple joy of listening to great albums. I’m trying to pay respect to artists who’ve helped me through this pandemic. Here’s a British singer/songwriter, who’s album, Let England Shake, is a poetic and powerful antiwar statement. PJ Harvey

Signed prints of this piece are available Here (in my Etsy shop)!

Langston Hughes

 

It’s been eye-opening to read a lot about African-American history this past year. I kept learning about folks who escaped the racist regions they were brought up in, and navigated their way north, to more enlightened parts of America . Born in Joplin, Missouri, one legendary poet/activist would participate in this great migration. He would find his voice as a member of the Harlem Renaissance.  

Sighed prints of this piece are available here (in my Etsy shop)!