Vitus Shell

Region: South

My large-scale paintings are geared toward the black experience, giving agency to people from this community through powerful images, deconstructing, sampling, and remixing identity, civil rights, and contemporary black culture. In my work, I strive to bridge the gap between the older and younger generations by exploring and uncovering factors that contributed to the unfortunate relationship breakdown between the two. Moreover, my layered, mixed-media painting examines parallels between present-day behaviors and attitudes that date back to African roots. With my current work, I continue experimenting with portraiture, acrylic paint, oversized photocopies of early twentieth-century vintage advertisements, and the incorporation of a cut-foam printing technique. My artistic goal is to exude the hip-hop lifestyle with a Southern vernacular.