Artwork
#acrylic
#cartoons
#childhood
#children
#portray
September 15, 2021
Grace Ebert
Surrounding Black youngsters with jumbled plenty of cartoon characters, doodles, and explosions of coloration, Chicago-based artist Kayla Mahaffey (beforehand) imagines adolescent daydreams and an array of playtime innovations. She infuses her acrylic work with a eager for carefree summer time days, mornings spent watching the foibles of favourite animated characters, and hours left open for journey, capturing emotions of pleasure and curiosity. Vividly rendered and layered with squiggles and globs of coloration, the large-scale works discover “worth within the sugar-coated nostalgia,” which Mahaffey explains:
There have been quite a few events the place we omit the truths of our previous to solely be met with the disappointments of the long run, a unending cycle that has influenced our present period for one of the best and the worst. Regardless that we’re presently going by a really troubling period, let’s take a second to recollect these instances the place we felt probably the most protected or the place we felt the happiest. Many people want to return to that life, however to not change something, however to really feel a number of cherished issues, as soon as once more.
In the event you’re close to Culver Metropolis, you possibly can see the items proven right here as a part of Bear in mind the Time at Thinkspace Tasks from September 18 to October 9. In any other case, discover Mahaffey on Instagram to see the place she’s headed subsequent.
#acrylic
#cartoons
#childhood
#children
#portray
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