THE ARTIST BEHIND THE ART
Meet Robert
My fascination with painting began in my teenage years in Atlanta and it is something I have not abandoned since. I took art courses in college at Clark Atlanta University and expanded my knowledge of technique, art history, and African-American traditions of art. Having spent more than twenty years and painting more than one hundred original pieces, I am still creating artworks using oil and watercolors daily.
This wasn't part of some kind of professional plan but rather an internal desire to do so. My education included studying great artists who preceded me. Their names include such legends as Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The latter were all carriers of the spirit of Harlem Renaissance period. The paintings of Douglas and Lawrence reflect the soul of their nation as well as its migration history. Their works hang in such world-famous museums as Smithsonian, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.
I consider myself a member of this tradition. The works of mine are derived from this heritage of oil and water painting. Both of which trace back to the generations of Black artists who have used oil layering in their paintings and from the watercolors of Elizabeth Catlett. Known for her portraiture skills. Currently living in Texas, I owe all the work that I do in Atlanta because this is where I hail from and is embedded in all that I do. Faith and family are my key strengths.
OIL & WATERCOLOR ORIGINALS
The Craft Behind the Canvas
The oil provides my paintings with depth, while the watercolors provide motion like music. The two techniques together convey the beauty of African-American culture in an almost lifelike manner. There is a hand involved in this process.
Each artwork is a unique original painting created using my own hands, oil paints, and watercolors, and printed as gallery-quality canvas art prints using high-quality Giclee ink on acid-free archival canvas guaranteed to last up to 100 years or more.
My painting process is accompanied by jazz music greats: Miles Davis, Coltrane, and Nina Simone. The music flows into the painting via the brush. This is what the Harlem Renaissance knew about painting, music, and poetry. All coming from the same source. That is why there are many such elements in my jazz paintings as well. Painting and jazz both flow from the same place, feeling first, truth second.
THE PIECE CLOSEST TO MY HEART
Black Boy Joy
A Black boy with a book. Quiet. Focused. Lost in a world that's opening up to him. That's the image I kept seeing when I painted this piece and it's the one closest to my heart.
I painted Black Boy Joy thinking about growing up in Atlanta. The women in my family who carried grace and strength like it was nothing. The quiet moments that shaped who I became. Education, curiosity, possibility that's the melanin art I wanted on canvas. Every time I look at it, I remember why I do this. It's not about selling afrocentric art. It's about preserving something that matters.
ETSY 5 STAR SELLER
Trusted by Etsy
Since launching on Etsy in 2024, my Cape2Cairo Collection shop has grown to over 400 sales with a perfect 5-star rating and Etsy Star Seller status. That badge isn’t given, it’s earned through consistently high reviews, on-time shipping, and responsive customer service.
Every review tells the same story: the quality is real, the colors are vibrant, and the art looks even better in person. That trust is why I built Afrohemian Art as a dedicated home for my full collection, where you get the same museum-grade quality and personal attention, direct from the artist.