Joseph Pearson
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From the Studio

Allied Artists of America

6/9/2026

 
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Stolen People of Stolen Land are NOT Illegal!, Oil on canvas, "36x30"


​ Founded in 1914 in New York City, the Allied Artists of America (AAA) is a major non-profit art society dedicated to the advancement of contemporary American art. It hosts prestigious annual juried exhibitions featuring hundreds of paintings and sculptures from artists worldwide.This year was my third time being excepted in four years! I am honored to have my work among some of the most outstanding artists in the world!
The exhibit is on view on alliedartistsofamerica.org and ShowSubmit from May 15th 2026 til May 15th 2028.
​Please visit to see all the works. 
The acceptance of this piece, considering it's political nature, heightens my respect for this venerable organization. I say this considering how many institutions are caving in to the pressures of this administration to stiffle creative expressions in opposition to its views on immigration and ther social/political issues.
Nina Simone famously defined an artist's duty as reflecting the times and situations they live in, viewing it as a personal responsibility to use art for activism rather than mere entertainment. She believed that in desperate times, involvement in social change is unavoidable for an artist, making art a powerful tool for addressing inequality.
Toni Morrison viewed art not as a detached, decorative luxury, but as a dangerous, essential, and inherently political force that tells the truth and fosters liberation. She famously asserted that "all good art is political," arguing that art either upholds or challenges existing power structures and, therefore, cannot be neutral.
Charles White, one my early influences, viewed art as an essential weapon in the struggle for liberation. He believed the artist had a profound social responsibility to fight oppression, make their work accessible to "ordinary people", and use art as an integral tool to challenge injustice and educate communities.
This has been my focus since I was 19 years old, having come of age in Mississippi during the Civil Rights and Viet Nam eras.



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Has a student ever taught you something?

6/3/2026

 
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SOMEHWERE, 14" x 11", charcoal, artist Gael Perry
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THERE IT IS, 14" x 11", charcoal, artist Gael Perry
J: Yes. I see teaching as a mutual learning process. You know, it’s not so much me doing all the giving, and not taking. A student’s response, a student’s question, leads me to explain it a different way. Their response causes me to see things from a different perspective. 

In the expression of their own work – it might be a certain color combination, or it might be the way they use it, or even a certain technique that they use – I always learn something from that.​

And, {laughs} I warn students in advance: “I am stealing. I am stealing. You put down something that I can use. I got it. Just so you know.” So it’s a mutual learning process.

You’re teaching kids at Open Doors to draw. What’s the one thing you want them to leave with?

5/19/2026

 
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J: When I was working with the children at Open Doors and at workshops at the YMI, I only have a short time frame to work with them. It’s not enough time for the participants or students to produce something that they can take with them. It is not enough time for them to really get a solid working understanding of the process. ​

The main thing that I want them to take from it is to realize that they are artists already – regardless of what form it takes – that they already know how to draw. That started when they were little kids. The main thing I want them to realize is that it’s the importance of creative expression in itself, regardless of what form it takes. 
We emphasize drawing, because this is something you started with as a child. It’s in you already. So regardless of the outcome, it’s to process of making an effort. 

There’s a book called “Your Brain on Art.” It talks about how scientists have actually hooked up electrobes and other stuff to people’s arms, shoulders, etc., to actually measure blood pressure, and brain waves to show the positive benefits of people who are engaging in (and shortly after) the creative process. 


​So, regardless of what form that art might take, it’s to process of doing something. Make a creative effort. Express yourself.

You see art as ministry. What does that look like in a day-to-day, practical sense?

5/19/2026

 
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GIRL WITH ORANGE  This painting was chosen for exhibition in the 110th online International competition sponsored by Allied Artists of America. Oil on Canvas “30x36”
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J: Well, art is my ministry. in that to minister means to "meet the need of" And art idoes that on so many level, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. They’ve gotta go hand in hand. There are those who say, “art imitates life.” I understand that to a certain point. But to me, “art is life, since art ireflects and interpret who we are individually and as a peoples.

The way this plays out on a day to day basis, is: I’m living life, interacting with other people. My desire, my prayer to the universe for the beginning of each day, is that I be a blessing, both in word and deed, in some way, to everybody whose presence I come into. 

​And that, of course, translates into the art as well. So, on a day to day basis, living and acting in this state of mind is ministry..

Tell us the story behind “Resist Erasure and Whitewashing” — what’s happening in that  painting?

5/19/2026

 
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RESIST ERASURE AND WHITEWASHING, OIL ON CANVAS
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In “Resist Erasure and Whitewashing” I am using the power of art to push back against this administration’s and others’ efforts to whitewash our black history. To some degree they have erased our history by removing certain institutions that traditionally house our culture. And by denying the public to be educated and by banning certain books about our culture and our history, this piece is intended to push against that. 

​It also allows me to vent the anger that swells up at the idea that there is somebody trying to tell me that I can’t talk about me. That’s not going to happen. So this is my language to say, “No, you don’t tell me that I can’t talk about me.” 

What are you actually looking for when you look at someone you’re about to paint?

5/19/2026

 
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DOROTHY, Oil on Canvas, 20"x16" (part of the Portraits of Dignity: Do you see me now? series)
J: I think about this question a lot, especially as I’m studying and practicing. As an artist, I will study the drawing process of an artist. Then, another artist, I’ll study his painting process, and how they paint portraits. Simultaneously, I’m doing my own practice. 
There are two things I work with as an artist when I’m deciding what paint, what color, etc, to use. First, I questions, “How does it feel?” Then, technically, I look at is the oval shape, proportions, and shadow shapes that the forms the light. I notice the shapes of the features the light creates. But the main thing is “How does it all feel?” 

There are others who do this mechanically. They’ll draw every hair, every eyelash, etc. There’s a publication – I dont know if it’s still out there still, called “Drawing.” In this, you’ll find these  photo realism drawings, like a photograph. I look at that, and all that’s well and beautiful. But where’s the life? I prefer a Rembrandt any day. 

Rembrandt understood all this technical stuff: form, shape, and proportions. But you look at his figures – you feel them, that character. So in addition to looking for this technical stuff in order to be able to get it on canvas, he is asking, “How does it feel?”  

That’s why it’s important. Even though I might be referencing a photograph for a portrait, it’s important to have a connection with the person first – to meet the person, to have some conversation with that person – because we connect spiritually. That translates into the work. So when I’m looking at somebody, it’s more of a feeling that I’m trying to get, even though I don’t know how to go about that. It takes care of itself. I can’t figure out how to do that. 

​One of the questions I've been asked is: “How comfortable are you with not knowing?” I’m totally comfortable not knowing. There’s something I don’t want to know. If I knew, for example, how to get the feeling in that eye, I don’t think it would be the same. I don’t know how to get the feeling in it. I paint it. The feeling just comes out. I think you just have to feel it, it’s enssence. Just, feel.

When I was drawing Dorothy, I tried to capture her smile and overall personality, the way the light fell on her face and her story. She was cheerful and optimistic, even as she revealed that she was undergoing chemo. She passed a week or two before the “Portraits of Dignity : Do you see me now?” show opened at the YMI of which her portrait was a part of.

Why the human figure, specifically? What does it offer that landscape or abstraction doesn’t?

5/19/2026

 
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CONJURING THE ANCESTRAL SPIRIT OF FREEDOM AND RESISTANCE   Oil on canvas “40x34”
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J: Why the human figure? Bottom line is, because we are human. Going back to my early impressions of the old the drawings in the Sears & Roebuck catalogue, I was impressed with the idea that someone could make a human figure out of lines, shapes, etc. I’ve always had an interest and curiosity about the figure. 

As I got older and began to study, art, I learned that throughout history, an artist’s primary education has been the study of the human figure. It’s because it is the most difficult, complex, and challenging form in nature. An understanding of the human figure allows us to interpret every other subject. And for me, while landscapes and still life are worthy subjects in and of themselves, I’m drawn to an expression of my interests and compassion for other human beings. Landscapes are beautiful. Still lives are beautiful. But I’m more concerned with sharing my connection, my spiritual, emotional, psychological connection with other human beings.

​That’s why the figure for me.

Walk us through what happens in the first five minutes with a blank canvas.

5/19/2026

 
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J: One of the first things I learned to do, was to recognize that any knowledge, talent, or skill that we have is a gift from the universe. And our efforts should honor that gift. So one of the first things I do is sit quietly, ... and ask the universe to put blessings on my effort. Then, usually, I have a photo reference next to me. I take some time to visualize the image that I’m going to put on the canvas. I create a picture of it in my mind, first, because, in essence, what we’re putting on the canvas is a representation of what is going on in our mind. 
It’s not the thing itself: it’s an interpretation, an impression of that thing. So I try to get as clear an impression as possible, because with painting, we work from memory anyway. Whether it’s a photograph or a person sitting here, we’re working from memory. We look at the subject. We have to remember what we saw, and then interpret it over here. We look at the subject and interpret. And some impressions, even though they are a mini-second translation, things get lost between that translation. Bottom line, it’s an interpretation. 
So, the first thing is that I honor the universe with a gift. And secondly, I take some time to project that image onto that surface before I make a mark. And go from there. 

Who was your most important teacher, and what did they teach you that you still carry with you today?

5/19/2026

 
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BOY WITH TIRE, Hughie Lee-Smith, 1952
J: I have to attribute that to my friend and mentor, the late Hughie Lee-Smith. I was first introduced to him through an image. I think I was still in high school, maybe in college, but fairly early on in my life. The image was called “Boy with Tire,” 1952. 

​I remember seeing that piece, and ... being moved, and curious as to how he was able to get that kind of powerful emotion into that painting. I would learn later on, it’s a matter of composition, value, tone, etc. 

I had opportunity to train with him for three years at the Art Students League, and befriend him for 20 years after this. So he’s one of the most influential teachers that I’ve ever had. I had decided at one point to try to become a portrait painter. So, I wrote him and asked for his advice (that was one of his specialties). At that time, I’m living on the Gulf Coast. I see a lot of murals around here, and I think, “I’ll put my hand in that.” I wrote him, he sent me a book (it was also one of his specialties). 

Everything I came up with, he’d already done it. {laughs} Print making. He’s already done all of this. So I think, “Well, I’ll do that too.” Then, I’m going through divorce. He’d already been there – twice! {laughs again} So whatever I was going through, he’d already been there. But it was, for the both of us: “Art is Life.” So, for 20 some years after I left school, he was a friend and advisor. I’m so glad my wife Gail got a chance to meet him before he transitioned in 1999. 
One of my paintings that encapsulates most of what I’ve learned from him is a portrait of a young lady, I found her, on Lexington sitting outside a cafe. She’s just sitting there quietly reading, and the shadow patterns, the way she is settled against that dark window, and the shapes, just remind me of his work. He used, not dark tones, but a lot of middle values in his work to evoke strong, emotional feeling. 

Hughie’s painting “Boy with Tire” has that emotional impact that really moved me and excited me and made me think, “This is what I want. This is what I want to do. I want to get this in my work.” I had no idea how to do that, and I learned later on when I had an opportunity to train with him: it’s a matter of understanding value, composition, color temperature, just understanding the fundamentals. 
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And for years, I never thought I’d meet this man, let alone train with him. I was at the Art Students League, going on my third year, and I heard that he was coming to teach there. This was about six months before it actually happened. That was the longest six months of my life. {laughs} The anticipation. That: “I am gonna meet this man. I’ve admired his work – since I was a kid.” 

When he started out there (because the teachers have to build their following) there were only two students: me and another guy. By the time I left though, he had a room full of folks. 
So, when he started out, I guess, I was his best student. {smiles} because during the year, each teacher would select the work of one of their students to represent that teacher’s class. I was selected to represent his class. 

A while back I had a conversation with an artist friend, where we talked about being influenced by certain artists, especially artists that we train with, and how that affects our work. The question was, “How much of them are we influenced by or are we just attracted to them because we have something in common?” 

Hughie and my work have both been called “semi-surreal,” because both have an element of isolation, loneliness, like Edward Hopper, for example. My work tends to be quiet, but it’s because I tend to be quiet like that. So, the connection is not so much trying to copy and paint like Hughie. I can’t do that, and I don’t want to. But, because I was influenced by his use of the fundamentals, my own sense of quietness tends to come through my work. It has a similar feeling to what he was expressing in his work, even though his motive was completely different. He’s just expressing who he was. Like this piece behind you. There’s a quietness about it, even though he’s moving. He’s walking. That’s just my nature, which is similar to the influence of Hughie’s work, even though our motives are different. 
​
I tend to limit the number of figures in my paintings, depending on what I’m trying to say. Because I’m interested in people, especially on an individual basis. What’s this person’s story? This guy walking down the street here: are they dreaming, or is something on their mind? His body language suggests that he’s pondering something. That’s my story behind it. But that’s what I get from him. So, individuals, the individual story, is what I’m interested in. And that tends to minimize how many folks I put in a piece. And if there’s more than one person, like this piece of a mother with her children, then again, what is that story? What is their relationship? What is going on? 

That piece is a reflection of my childhood, too. Growing up in shotgun houses. A shotgun house was a traditional, African structure. It is a house brought over from West Africa. They tend to be a single dwelling space and an open space. We call them a shotgun, in Mississippi, Louisiana, probably much of the south. They say, if you open the front door, and open the back door, and fire a shotgun, it would go straight through without touching the walls. That was it. 

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SOLITUDE, Oil on Canvas 36x30"  Joseph Pearson
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SOJOURNER  This painting is accepted into the Allied Artists of America Inc. Associate members online competition Oil on Canvas 36"x24”
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FAMILY MEMORY, Oil on Canvas 72"x48"  Joseph Pearson (in reference to the shotgun house)

You mention the Sears catalog as an early inspiration. What was it about those illustrated figures that grabbed your four-year-old attention?

5/19/2026

 
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J: I guess, like any 4 year old, it was my curiosity. I was just mystified as to how anyone could make, what appeared to be a person, out of lines and shapes on a flat page. I would look so deeply and say, “This is not a real person, but they make it look like a person. How do they do that? Why do they do it?” So curiosity is basically what started the whole thing. 


And out of that came, “Well, let me see if I can do that.” Kids, you know, they have to dive into the experience. They see water. They put their hand in it and stir it around to see it move. A flower blows in the wind. Oh, they have to touch it to understand why. 
So, seeing those images in the old Sears & Roebuck catalogues, at four or five years old, started my questioning. In addition to that, it is instinctual as human beings to have the impulse to express our environment, our little world visually, through drawing. 
So in addition to the curiosity, that natural instinct kicked in. And as I began to explore how they did this, I became more and more fascinated about it. And not just fascinated with how they did it – but the challenge of doing it. Because it isn’t easy. And it’s still not easy. I don’t like that term either. If everything was easy, everybody would do it. And I love the challenge. I don’t ever want to reach a point (I probably won’t) where I think I’ve got it all figured out. Because then the learning, the curiosity, the enthusiasm, will probably go away. 
And just a backstory on the Sears catalogue: in that time, there wasn’t a lot of contact with images. We did not have cell phones or websites. That catalogue was a primary source. It’s how folks took care of business, and it was shared by the whole family. I couldn’t tear the pages out. My folks weren’t to be trifled with. It probably sat right next to the Bible and the phone book. {laughs}.
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    Joseph Pearson

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