I am Omar Palmer from Sheen Magazine, we are here today with a legendary artist, a
living artist, Mr. Leroy Campbell. He's having an exhibition here in Harlem, New York, at
the Soul Studio, and we just wanted to stop by and see what's going on. How are you doing?
Going well, thank you for coming through.
Well, thank you for having us.
You know, New York is my second home. I was raised as an adult, and seriously, I was
forgetting to pursue my career as an artist here. So, this has been, you know, where
the life of the creativity blossomed. I started in 84. There's many layers to my background,
just like my work, you know. I grew up in Charleston, graduate high school in 75, I moved
to New York in 77, and didn't start a painting until 84. I used gel stones and I used newspaper
articles, and sometimes jewelry, and more recently, tangible elements like real saxophones, real
shoes, and you know, various things that, but they're all nostalgic stuff, because I'm
an old soul. The body of work that I've done over the 10 years, I've always focused on
community culture, history, and my African American history as well as my personal history
and culture. The work is fused with art and history. You see a lot of newspaper, a lot
of organizing in the work, and so there's this research in terms of making the newspaper
along with the concept cohesive, so there's either research, a lot of digging and going
out to look for articles that are going online or whatever, or going shopping in various
antique places, just to find the actual right articles or element to help create the work.
This is actually my family. This is called Cornbread, one of my earlier pieces. This
is my grandmother, that's my mother, that's my grandfather, and Montscona, South Carolina,
and this is a quote that was given to me by some quilters in New York years ago. I think
people should go to my website, Leeward Campbell Originals with an S.com to be updated. I just
want to thank you so, so much for keeping believing in me and encouraging me and enjoying
all your artwork, and you know, I'm always here for you, just like you're here for me.
Mr. Campbell, thank you again for having me in the magazine. I wish you the best of luck. Thank you.
