Dad Life
Tavarus Blackmon
New Paintings

“Being a Dad is hard work. I want to show all that work. Mostly the violent and tender moments because those are the ones that remain with me. As a father my role is both complicated and beautiful and I use the cowl and tartan as a method to express this American Father. I never grew up in the ‘hood but I have seen people wear them. The antagonist wears a cowl because I want to connect the religiosity to the violence in a sincere way. The violence of the Father can be explicit, oblique or complicit. And the tartan connects the Father to both European roots of the Scottish Klan and those of the Middle East, Asia and North Africa, where the Check originated.”

"My mother and I played Chess often. And now my life as a father has been influenced by her and my partner, the absence of a father in my life and the children I love and care for. My own violent and troubled history has been influenced by the culture of the father. Which is what makes this work rich. I do not pretense a removal from what is fallible. I just ask that you Love Dad anyways. If not the damned righteous fist. At least his capacity for guilt.”

Tavarus Blackmon