Los Angeles Based Painter, Devin Wesley on Challenging Traditional Norms Through Art
THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO
BECK SALGADO
From training for the Rio Olympics to presenting art for Beyoncé, the story of Los Angeles based artist,
Devin Wesley is anything but the binary of experience that the colors in his paintings, blacks and white, represent.
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Born in Southern California, Wesley was always intrigued by art, but his first love was track and field. After running sprints and competing in long jump at Fresno State University, Devin decided to take one last run at running for the 2016 Olympics before hanging up his spikes.
After this decision, he was finally able to focus on his art which, inspired by famed photographer Herb Ritts, is now done almost exclusively in black and white. In 2019, Wesley found quick success by winning Art Battle Los Angeles—a speed art competition—and yes, by participating in a charity art exhibition put together by Beyoncé and her mother, Tina Knowles.
Now the L.A based creative primarily works on various series in which, through his black and white forms, he challenges the audience to question perspective.
I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Devin about activism in art, beauty and modern masculinity. Wesley expressed that after disembarking from his athletic past, art not only allowed him to embrace his identity as a gay black man, but also allowed him to have agency within it.
Photo: Erik Carter
“Growing up as a queer black man, I've always struggled with identity, and so I think I was really was able to reconnect with my art, and it became a form of therapy for me.” said Wesley.
Wesley spoke about the trials of 2020: it being such an unpredictable and emotional year and the importance of art in culture amidst the protests stemming from the murder of George Floyd this past summer. “There are multiple ways to share messages and there's not just one way to push the needle forward” said Wesley.
In response to the events of this particular summer, Wesley decided to start his “black superheroes” series in which he paints black individuals as popular superheroes. This was motivated by wanting to increase representation and redefine who we think these characters can be. “It’s really important for me to highlight the heroic aspects of being black which is what led me to create my superhero series and put a spin on the classic superheroes.” He continues, “I want to depict the black experience and what I mean by that is I want to display the black resilience and black strength that we naturally have—that we’ve been forced to have.”
In a lot of ways, Wesley’s art also creates a safe space for the modern man. Through striking paintings of nude men in fluid poses, Wesley’s work offers the audience the idea that the modern man is defined by a lack of definition. “There are so many different ways the modern man can be perceived, and there's not a one size fits all” said Wesley. To emphasize this, Wesley says he strives to portray vulnerability in men saying, “It's pretty common with a lot of men, especially in the black community, to not discuss your emotions and to not be vulnerable because we are meant to be the epitome of strength. So it's really important for me to show black men that are vulnerable in my work.”
In addition to enabling vulnerability, Wesley’s paintings also capture the subtlety of beauty in a particularly unique way, something he strives to do. “I get excited to see that the world is shifting. Things that people used to question if they're beautiful like freckles or body shapes and sizes are important for me to represent in a unique and positive way,” he says.
The beauty and confidence Wesley’s paintings exude both suggest and affirm ideas about masculinity that seem to consistently break from traditional norms.
Photo: Erik Carter
Interestingly enough, the black and white form Wesley’s paintings are painted in create the sensation of simultaneous simplicity and complexity, which seems to force the audience to highlight the notions that they associate with men as they are depicted in his work.
Wesley’s art so effortlessly crosses boundaries, and in a lot of ways represent the artist that created it. Refusing to be tied down by any concept of expectation is something both the artist and art do here, and from what the burgeoning creative has to say, it’s something that won’t end anytime soon.
“For me, my art is about shifting or questioning perspective. I really hope that it has the ability to do that in time.” He concludes, “In the past year I found such pride and resilience within being black, and I want to make sure I portray and communicate that in my artwork as a way of challenging people. Now and forever.”