VISUAL ARTIST EXPLORES RACE AND CLASS ISSUES IN VIRTUAL ART EXHIBIT
Visual artist explores race and class issues in virtual art exhibit
BY TIA CAROL JONES
The photos in the art exhibit are thought provoking, a person dressed in a teddy bear head sitting on a porch at boarded up homes, with a cartoon teddy bear next to him. The art is the work of digital artist Maxwell Emcays and is part of his “Let Them Stay Home” virtual art exhibit.
Emcays said the stay-at home order during the pandemic was being treated in a “general way” but at the same time, there are a lot disparities in the homes where people were being required to stay.
Being safe at home is a “privilege,” Emcays said, because in some homes, it’s not safe. In some situations, while at home, there’s violence, unemployment, abuse, fear and a list of other issues people face.
In his art, Emcays said he wanted to use those “homes as an allegory to speak about those struggles.” There’s just basic things that “we take for granted that a lot of people do not have when they’re stuck at home,” he explained.
In the exhibit, there are ten pieces of work, featuring homes on the South side in Englewood. Emcays said he chose that neighborhood because he works in the area.
He said while he has been a professional artist for the last few years, his work has been on display at Art Basel in Miami, as well as the DuSable Museum. He is also the author and illustrator of the “Lil Terrance & Aveelah” book series, and “Nia & The Lion.”
What inspires him as an artist typically derives from looking at and/or critiquing other artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shepherd Fairey and Marc Ecko. “For me as an artist, I like to critique and see what did this artist go through and how can I make that part of my experience,” Emcays said.
Notably, he reflects on Jean-Michel’s work and how it helps him to set goals and he uses the Basquiat crown in a lot of his work, with the “E.” The crown resonates with him he said, and to him, reflects African royalty. “Just feeling empowerment [and the] fact that he used that crown well before he was anything. When he was on the streets and partially homeless, he used that crown. And, I think that’s a beautiful thing to always look at yourself and look at who you can be and not where you are currently,” he said.
Emcays said because he is a digital artist, it wasn’t hard for him to transition to doing a virtual art exhibit. Creating the virtual art exhibit was a way to allow a lot of people to see the work without the restriction of physical space, he said, and it’s “definitely” something he sees himself doing in the future.
To view the “Let Them Stay Home” art exhibit, visit https://maxwell.emcays.com/stay-home/.
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