Melvin Nesbitt Jr
Our stories are formed by the impactful moments of our lives being woven together. Oftentimes, as we recount our journey, the traumas and obstacles we were forced to overcome take center stage. For Melvin Nesbitt Jr.; however, he has unearthed the memories of joy and excitement that, while pivotal to our journeys, can be overshadowed. A self-taught artist, he captures enthralling narratives of day-to-day life in the Black American community through mixed media collages that celebrate the unheard stories within our society.
The works he creates combine printed paper, recycled materials, wire, fabrics, and other easily discarded items. He constructs an archive. The experience of the everyday in the present collides with the recreated scenes of his youth exposing in a single image the multitemporal experience of memory. Atop the layers of material, he adds his own artistic touch. Acrylic paints with the occasional crayon or pastel ensure that the materials undergo a metamorphosis, refusing to be left untouched by the creative process.
The works are a celebration of life, community, and culture that is unveiled when we unlock new memories, finding light in the darkest of times. While Nesbitt’s work is often autobiographical in nature, he touches on the innocence, and loss of it, that resonates with us all. Young black children can see themselves portrayed in art, culture, and history in a positive manner that shapes their understanding of themselves and their outlook on the future. Those who have become men and women are asked to rethink how they envision their personal stories to find the hope and beauty that exists within. Through the power of nostalgia within Nesbitt’s captivating works, audiences find themselves wishing to reclaim their memories, their heritage, and their stories
Born in South Carolina in the 1980s, he was raised in a public housing neighborhood until the 6th grade before relocating to the more rural environment of Spartanburg. Despite poverty and inequality that still persists today, he found joy in his friends, family, and community throughout his childhood. It was at this young age that he discovered a passion for drawing. For decades he practiced, entirely self-taught he gained the basic foundations of his practice. Determined to find his artistic voice, he took painting and drawing classes at the University of the District of Columbia and Washington Studio School. However, it was not until he took a workshop in collage, as a means to better prepare his painting compositions and save the costly resources that kept him from experimenting with his work, that he found his creative stride. In the textures, patterns, and found material his distinctive style emerged.
His evocative works have led to his exhibiting throughout the United States at institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art (MOCADA). He has also been an Art Bank grantee, a fellow with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and has worked in permanent collections including the Spartanburg County Public Library in South Carolina. He is currently represented by Richard Beavers Gallery in New York.
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Subject Matters
Group Show 3 May - 15 Jun 2024 SohoWhat does it mean for a person, a community, or a life to matter? Today, we encounter the politicization of identity that pits us against one another rather than amplifies...Read more -
Memories of a Neighborhood Boy
Melvin Nesbitt Jr. 22 Apr - 3 Jun 2023 BrooklynCollagist Melvin L. Nesbitt Jr. (b. 1973) repurposes paper to create the pages of a book he would have loved as a child. The Washington, D.C.-based artist explores themes of...Read more
