The Boy Running

The Boy Running is a very sentimental piece. This painting was the first oil painting I ever painted. The origin of this painting was a photograph taken on summer camp. Driving through the townships, I took the photo of this scene. Something spoke to me about this image. Later on, once I began attending art classes, I revisited this image and decided to paint it in oils. The canvas itself has a history. When I began playing around with drawing and painting, I thought to paint a painting for my brother and his then wife. So I took a canvas that was lying around the house and using my father's titanium white oil paint, I painted over whatever image was underneath. As I look back now, I have come to understand that the painting that I painted over was one of my father's, of which there are very few. I am not sure what the relevance is or what it means, but something about this idea shouts louder than words ever can. The Boy Running seems to be a consistent motif and concept that runs deep throughout my work. One can interpret this as my first self-portrait. The Boy Running.