Traveling exhibition of art exclusively made by Black men returns to Atlanta

Since 2020, the traveling exhibit has exclusively featured Black male visual artists seeking a platform to display and sell their work. While “show” is in the title, patrons should not expect a gallery white wall experience with red sticker dots applied to purchased pieces marked for later pickup.

Much like juried exhibitions, Black male artists’s submissions are handpicked by a panel of critics to sell their creations at marketplace vendor booths. Offerings range from original art pieces and prints to figurines and sculptures.

“We’re creating a culture where art is continuously being produced and patronized,” said Love. “There are people who come to the show who are purchasing art for the first time and people who’ve been collecting art for years. So there’s this whole culture that is being birthed in that space that you really can’t quantify. It’s magical.”

Credit: Courtesy of Joshua Love

Credit: Courtesy of Joshua Love

Love grew to appreciate the magic of art at a young age. A native of Philadelphia, the 37-year-old entrepreneur describes his childhood as “traumatic.” With both of his parents experiencing drug addiction, he was put up for adoption at age 3 and did not settle into a permanent home until he turned 8 years old.

The experience led to him developing a speech impediment. He wound up finding his voice through theater and eventually visual art.

“I had a severe stuttering disorder, I had to go to speech class but nothing worked,” said Love, who attended the renowned Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

“But as soon as I started doing art, music and theater, my speech improved so much because it wasn’t linked to a speaking disorder, it was linked to a self-esteem issue. I know how important [art] is, so I just became passionate about giving artists spaces to be seen and celebrated.”

After beginning his career as a graphic designer, Love entered event promotions. He held his first show, an independent music showcase and networking event called “Music Makes Me Happy,” in 2009, highlighting local Philadelphia-area talent.

Love moved to Atlanta in 2014 and brought the concept with him. In addition to hosting the event in Los Angeles, he created an event called the Emoji Art Show in 2018, focusing on promoting emotional wellbeing through emojis.

Love arrived at the Black Boy Art Show idea after hosting a similar concept, A Spectacular Black Girl Art Show, at Blue Mark Studios in September 2019. The show, which centered on 20 Black women artists, included jewelry makers and fashion designers, and had sold-out attendance.

The event’s success led Love to immediately produce it again three months later, this time at Westside Cultural Arts Center.

After two successful events highlighting women, he received feedback. “I had a few people say, ‘Hey, man, what about the fellas,’” said Love.

Credit: Bosa Lanova/Black Boy Art Show

Credit: Bosa Lanova/Black Boy Art Show

Acting fast, Love quickly announced his new concept, A Marvelous Black Boy Art Show,and put out a call to artists and vendors. Slots and tickets for the show were gone by January, a month before its debut in Midtown.

“I didn’t think that it would be as popular and as successful as the Black Girl Art Show, but it actually ended up being just as celebrated,” said Love.

Since then the show, rebranded as the Black Boy Art Show, has expanded to 20 cities. The Atlanta edition has grown from 30 featured artists in its first year, to nearly 70 last year. Love expects to host more than 150 artists this year, with attendance exceeding 3,000 people.

Past Black Boy Art Shows have included locals like William Floyd of King Pop Designs, Cam The Artist and Brochevski.

Antonio Mcilwaine, artistically known as “Arm of Casso,” appeared in the first Black Boy Art Show in 2020 after moving to Atlanta from Philadelphia in 2018. His signature abstract pop “sharpism” style that uses contours and lines has since been seen on the walls of local haunts APT4B, Old Lady Gang and the Trap Music Museum.

“It was a great opportunity for me to be able to network with other artists,” Mcilwaine said. “I was still fairly new to Atlanta, and I was just trying to get more exposure to my work. [Black artists] are still not represented in a lot of spaces, and I feel like spaces like this are still necessary for us.”

Longtime Atlanta-based artist Paper Frank will make his Black Boy Art Show debut this year, displaying and selling his new vinyl “Damien” figurine.

“They would reach out to me back in the day, but that’s when I wasn’t taking anything serious outside of what I wanted to do myself, so I was kind of blowing everybody off,” Paper Frank said.

“But I kept seeing them do more stuff, and I felt myself being proud of them as somebody on the outside looking in, seeing them getting bigger every year. Most of my characters are about young black children, so when they asked me to do it this year, I said, ‘sure, let’s do it.’”

Credit: Ose Imeokparia (Courtesy of Paper Frank)

Credit: Ose Imeokparia (Courtesy of Paper Frank)

In addition to figurines and sculptures, patrons of this year’s show will see varying styles, including high-contrast acrylic paintings using abstract expressionism as well as mixed media. With artists’ ages and experience levels ranging between emerging and elder, visitors may also notice how hyperrealism and portraiture are applied to prominent figures like Muhammad Ali and Nipsey Hussle.

“Indirectly, we’re creating a community of mentorship within the artist community,” said Love. “You’ll see an artist who’s been in the game for years exhibiting right next to one who is just starting out. That produces inspiration and connection. They’re asking each other questions about how and what to do to expand their artistry.”

The Atlanta date of Black Boy Art Show comes after its February stop in Washington, D.C., and will precede shows in Chicago and Brooklyn this summer. While continuing to produce similarly themed art shows like Black Girl Art Show and Black Youth Art Show, Love also promotes the popular R&B party Feels ATL, that features live art and music, and has been going since 2021.

Love’s calendar may look overbooked to many, but to him its a work of art in itself.

“I’ve always known I had something special in terms of bringing people together,” said Love about juggling multiple events throughout the year. “Blank spaces are my canvas with the people being the brush strokes of the experience itself.”

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