Reginald K. Gee (Gallery A: Oil Pastel on Brown Paper Bags (1995-1999)

Artist's Biography

Reginald K. Gee is a contemporary African America artist influenced by the Neoexpressionism of Jean Michel-Basquiat and David Salle. Known for his comical, expressive faces and colorful, surreal landscapes and seascapes, Gee was born in Milwaukee in 1964. Primarily self-taught, Gee been creating since 1982, producing a body of work numbering in the hundreds, including a series of brown paper bag paintings (created from 1999-2007), and a collection of medium to large-scale paintings created by using acrylic on canvas or watercolor paper, oil pastel on canvas panel, gouache on paper, charcoal on cardboard and other  mixed-media. Venues where Gee’s paintings have been shown include the Outsider Art Fair, the National Black Fine Arts Show, and the Chicago Black Art Expo. In 2002, two of Gee's paintings, "The Inspiration" and "Honest Crowd," were selected for inclusion in a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King. In 2008, a retrospective of Gee’s artwork was held at the David Barnett Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.