Jahlil Nzinga

Contemporary American artist Jahlil Nzinga seeks to transform the art world from the inside out with his highly emotional visual art, avant-garde techniques, and an understanding that an artist cannot be separated from any component of his life-affirming work. Since his first exhibition in 2015 at Good Mother Gallery Oakland, Nzinga’s visuals incorporate multiple media on canvas including acrylic, spray paint, charcoal, and enamel. For Nzinga, his materials and artistic constructions live in a symbiotic relationship; his mediums inspire him to dream yet his visions demand more from his materials than he ever intended. Themes emerging from Nzinga’s work include both an appreciation of the beauty and transformative power of darkness while simultaneously exercising and expelling that which weighs him down. He understands his art to be the purest expression of himself. So improvisational is his work that he equates it to a passion murder—exploding with emotion and without constraint or premeditated design. Nzinga has no desire to instruct his audience by using literal imagery but instead calls his viewers to wonder, be provoked, and conjure individual interpretation and analysis of his often-surreal renderings. Just as important, Nzinga understands that in order to experience full freedom from the demands of the commercialized and often exploitative business of art, he must own and execute all processes of his work. In preserving himself in this way, Nzinga hopes to curate a collaborative, supportive, and liberated generation of artists that can receive the full rewards of their labor and love.