Baltimore-based artist Ernest Shaw explores the duality of the African-American experience and the rich history of African/African-American figurative art. His use of color and mark-making create rhythms in his work that are informed by West African drumming. “I attempt to create work that combats negative, degrading, denigrating and stereotypical images that falsely depict African people throughout the diaspora,” Shaw says. “My mission and purpose is to illuminate the beauty of being an African in America while maintaining truthfulness and authenticity in the process. I wish to raise the level of consciousness of peoples of color, while providing others with a more full scope of the Black experience.”