Derric ClemmonsSWAG
He was Born in Chicago Illinois, April 1962, in the pit of controversial events taking place at that time; urban crisis, racial fluxes, political upheavals. Yet, the positives of love, mixed cultural connections, exposure to Jazz , R&B and Rock was the soundtrack to energize his visual creative side.
He credits his Father, a magazine writer and poet featured in various publications, for creative insight. He started early in drawing his environment and took a particular interest in nature. His mother Patricia saw to that.
He attended Columbia College in Chicago, while studying the abstract influences of DeKooning, Basquiat, Jacob Lawrence and Stuart Davis, painting canvases in semi cubist abstraction and some expressionist elements. In the early 80’s he spent time in Europe doing art and photographic excursions, the seeds for continual focus.
From 1994 on, canvas work was started with great success, but with a desire for doing stand alone pieces, he tried his hand at wood sculpture, refining his techniques . His work was later heralded by collectors in Chicago and other states, his clients intrigued by his use of hieroglyphic-like symbolisms and tongue-and-cheek narratives and Bauhaus style .
In 2015 he began the ‘Metropolis’ sculptures with subjects of humans inhabiting concrete structures, acting out dramas, moving about in their ambient light atmospheres, day and night, ripe with controversy and question. He states, “Everything about it was fascinating, questionable, and at times exciting".
As of 2018 onward, his work has taken new directions with rooted interest in Community outreach projects and programs that focusses on youth and their ability to express themselves publicly with art. Ha
Derric currently runs his art studio in the Pilsen community, Chicago, IL.
Derric Clemmons poses with unfinished 'Form.'