American Artist Ernie Barnes

Ernie Barnes didn’t look the part. An imposing sight, his frame seemed better equipped for the violent beauty of American Football than the impassioned plane of painting. Initially subscribing to this sentiment, the child of a Jim Crow South would forge a pigskin career professionally until 1965, when Jets owner Sonny Werblin recognized Barnes’ artistic inclination, and graciously afforded him a single year’s salary to “just paint”. Thus the transition from athlete to heralded figurative painter, and a legacy as one of the foremost African American artists to ever be.

It is an effortless task to rattle off Barnes’ bio. Official artist of the ‘84 Games in the City of Angels. Ghost painter for JJ in the groundbreaking American TV serial “Good Times”. His striking “Sugar Shack” served as the background for the closing credits of the aforementioned sitcom, as well as a Marvin Gaye album cover. Regarded as the greatest sporting painter of his time. Commissioned to create masterpieces for the likes of Jerry Buss, Charleton Heston, Kanye West, and Flip Wilson. His exploits are endless. The true hardship is describing a visual treasure with words.

Known as a neo-mannerist, Barnes applied the use of elongated, muscled form to express spiritual and physical struggle. His sporting works often focused on the brutality of football, serving as a commentary on the game. “I was reaching for the absurdity of what men can be turned into with football as an excuse,” he once told an interviewer. His later work, centered upon black culture and daily life, had an incredulous ability to capture joy, tension and despair on the same canvas. Almost entirely, he would present his characters with closed eyes, as he often theorized we as a people are “Blind to each other’s humanity.” No stone unturned, every facet of a Barnes painting was purpose driven, with a sense of connectivity and fluidity, a virtual thematic detonation.

Affectionately known as “Big Rembrandt,” Barnes falls into the category of Black icons whose influence has crossed all lines of race creed or color. His creations retain a quality that leaves the viewer adrift in awe. Literal hours can be spent consuming a single piece and the versatile stories and emotions captured throughout. From pads to palette, Ernie Barnes was a mountain of a man in all facets of his life.