ARTIST STATEMENT
My visual art practice lies primarily in mixed-media painting. Through my creative process, I construct images and narratives from family photographs and 20th-century African-American visual media. I work to juxtapose and conglomerate cross-temporal imagery to craft a visual narrative that bridges our understanding of how trends of consumer culture have affected our personal and social development.
In my work, I am discussing issues of identity, the growth and change of African American culture, and how the individual has impacted the collective identity of culture.
My practice is rooted in tearing down and rebuilding images in order to reconstruct a new lens of viewing and understanding them. In my mixed-media practice, I am reshaping the meaning of what a painting is and how its medium functions as a narrative tool. In this process, I am repetitively tearing apart, layering, and manicuring interpersonal and cultural imagery on top of each other in order to explore the relationship between 20th century African American consumer culture and the development of interpersonal values.
Works by © Jeff Rivers
Jeff Rivers is an African-American, self-taught visual artist, designer, and community advocate who works to empower minoritized groups through social impact art programs and street art. Through community advocacy and art practice, Rivers works to increase access to art education and exhibition spaces for people of color. Rivers is an active arts educator who has worked across Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. Rivers’ professional practice is centered around youth art programs: social impact art projects, school murals, and education workshops.
Instagram: @jeffisblond or https://www.instagram.com/jeff.isblond/
