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Black Market Artist
by Donelle Woolford

I am the quintessential black market artist.

First and foremost, I am black and I market my work. I operate in an arena that is both obvious and invisible to the naked eye: the market for black artists. You know, that Venn Diagram of practitioners that is smaller, narrower and certainly more distinctly shaded than the larger circle of contemporary art.

I'm here to take back for my people what was stolen from us almost 100 years ago.

Rather than oil on canvas, however, my Cubism is perpetrated through found scraps of wood that have the appearance and the feel of bulky stage props. My Cubism is both real (made) and fake (counterfeit), just as yours was both real (painted) and fake (bastardized African culture). My Cubism is a mere shadow of the original. My Cubism is an outcast lurking in the alleys of art history, waiting for its big score. My Cubism is a double-crosser. It is stolen goods.

If you can act like me, I can act like you.

For years I have been working in private, like a ghost, no more or less anonymous than the countless faceless artists who carved out the greatest aesthetic of the 20th century. Now I'm stepping out of the background and into the light of day.

Welcome to my debut.