Solo Exhibition
THE ART AND SOUL OF A MAN
Ebony Thompson aka ILEADBYDESIGN
September 2 – October 15, 2022
Ebony Thompson aka ILEADBYDESIGN, is an expressionist from Freetown Sierra Leone in West Africa. His passion in communicating the African experience and encounters at home and abroad especially in America has led to representation of his voice in Art. He uses Art defined in the form of earth tone colors on canvas and illustration boards. Through this he has reached out to multiple entities to spark conversation and highlight various societal issues.
The final items are exemplary layouts of art that are developed uniquely to bring out the best in visual representation of various events and topics. He specializes in the use of oil pastels with a distinctive technique of employing various solvents to improve the fluidity and texture of the oil pastels.
In a wide range of works he uses an array of merged pastels, oil paints, acrylics on canvas to create appealing, challenging and sentimental art. As an artist, Ebony delights in the magic of bringing images out of darkness into the aspect of light. The process of expressing the transitional effects of light in his images in his images stands out as his art signature.
Art for Ebony stands as a representation of the societal issues. Ebony has been successful in capturing the things that happen in our daily lives. The signature factor of transforming images from darkness to expressing them in light clearly gives a bold statement of desire to speak of change to positive issues in the society. With the increasing demand for a voice of change in various issues, he has helped to support this noble course through his Art. He intends to stimulate thought and initiate dialogue through his individual pieces. This has come to be attributed as a representation of a parallel to his life in Freetown and United States.
The Art he develops and designs eloquently articulates a large spectrum of ideas. Through what may be regarded as different genres and types of expression, the art is as entertaining as it is educative. Most pieces express the true cultural statement with the African aspect carefully imprinted through each piece with a tinge of passion attached to it. Ebony’s Art also upholds emotional support and ideological advancement of different topics, people and concerns.
His art has been recognized and exhibited in various galleries in America. Some of these include exhibitions in galleries in Brooklyn, NYC libraries, Elmont Library, Roosevelt Library and also the Contemporary Art Fair at the Jacob Javits Center. To help reach out a bigger audience; he has a website through which his work is merchandised. (https://ileadbydesigncreations.com ). Various items such as Wood stretched hand embellished Giclee Prints, clothing and Home Goods can be purchased. The work is also displayed in his social media platform on Instagram and Facebook.
Under the need to reach and give back to the society, he has been engaged in extending his artistic expression into designing and making reversible, functional Afro-centric masks, social justice T-shirts that are available at his shopify store. He has also created a platform to help and support other artists and photographers to have their work printed and stretched on canvas.
To download the artist’s book, click here.
With additional support from:
Main St. Benefactor Members
Beth and Charles Levinthal
Dr. Kay Hutchins Sato
Bette and Paul Schneiderman