About Me: first person
Photos by Matthew Roachford
“Working Shear Wonders” was the name of my mother’s first hair salon. Growing up in her shop, I was introduced to different standards of beauty at a young age. At the same time, I was growing more intrigued about art and its historic relevance. It seemed as though the road to our past was paved in how artist documented their life which was also mangled with what those artists thought to be beautiful. This has extremely influenced my own work and its cultivation. In simplified terms, I want my art to exist at the intersection of historical documentation and the balancing of societal beauty standards.
As an artist I have accepted the notion that the work I create will serve as documentation of what I experience during my life time, creating a duality of personal perception and iconic events of the time. I feel a responsibility as an artist to bend my work towards new ideals and progressive movements of our time through the lens of a young man of color. I present to my audience a narrative of my personal journey through life. I add my story to the many that will define this era and give a window into this time for future generations
Another detail about being raised in a salon was always having to use the magazine rack as entertainment as I waited for my mom to go through her appointment book that day. I believe this built in me an obsession with portraiture. Every cover held the face of a person of interest, molded to compliment or defy today’s beauty standards, and strategically posed for the viewer. In many ways this was not very different from pieces like Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” or Cassatt’s portrait of Madame Sisley.
In recent years I have pushed this a step further. After learning about Caravaggio and his use of chiaroscuro to add a bit of drama to the scenarios he painted, I was inspired by the idea of making my work more dramatic. I emphasize my composition further by using what I know about color theory and how deeply connected our emotions are to different hues. I wanted to communicate visually alluring and complex messages riddled with emotion to my audience and this aided in that. Bold color and dramatically rendered form captivates my audience enough to connect with them in a way that invites viewers to spend a little more time unpacking my work.
Moving forward I would like to go further with using my work to build connection with people on a larger scale. I am interested in integrating my work with more public community spaces. Similar to murals and commissioned public art, I want my work to interact with people as they go about their daily lives. I want to fill both cities and rural areas with art that’s specifically placed to connect with people from various walks of life. Spaces that are open rich, poor, and any ethnicity. As I move forward, my art will be designed to not just be beautiful, but also healing and a way to bring strangers a little bit closer together. My work will be designed provoke conversation on hard or controversial topics and push our society forward as we confront our underlying issues head on.
Engagement in the Albany Ga Community
Student Leadership
Student Art League
With the help of Deandrea Moore and Aniessa Fudge and Abigail Ward Quadre brought to life the first Student Led Multidisciplinary Arts Club at Albany State University. It was the first time an organization like that had engaged with the students on a such a large scale having events that brought together hundreds of students at a time under the umbrella of creativity. Showcasing a variety of individuals who support and create the arts, the club continues to serve as a home for students who feel like outsiders or loners otherwise. Singers, dancers, poets, rappers, and any other creative you can think of can find a likeminded community within S.A.L.
For the 2019-20 Scholastic year Quadre had the pleasure of serving as the Student Government Association President at Albany State University. It was an honor to serve the larger community and contribute to progress as well as bring together different silos of the Student Body. His administration met with Campus leadership including President Marion Fedrick to put together strategies on how they could serve the student body better.