STATEMENT

"My paintings are intended to push the limits of the imagination with bold color, strong line, and fiery strokes.  I use lines in my paintings as visual representations of the thread that spiritually connects us to one another and all that is living, and color as a signifier for the masses and as a catalyst for healing the effects of racism and separatism.  In painting in this fashion, my mission is to pull viewers into a bigger picture, beyond themselves in order to realize our original connection.  I paint from my heart and soul, and I know that I am merely a vehicle for the expressions of the creator of all.  Media include paint, textiles, paper, canvas, ink, pastels, graphite, stone, wood, glass, plastic, metal, sand and found objects."

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BIO

Makeba Kedem-DuBose, a self-taught artist, grew up in what she likes to refer to as a "female tribe", on the West Side of Chicago.  She is a product of the Catholic Church and school system and, under the direction of a Jesuit priest, himself an artist, she developed her passion for painting.  He taught her the basics of art, art history and various techniques.  Makeba's painting style reflects the mentor’s influence, African based ancestral practices from her maternal Grandmother and the Judeo-Mystic practices of spirituality from her Father. Her work speaks to her viewers on a spiritual level.  Makeba’s mission is to pull viewers in, and assist them in moving beyond the individual, thus enabling them to recognize themselves as a portion of her vision of oneness.  Her technique of defining shapes with heavy black lines around spaces with intense color lends excitement to her art. She views her art as a tool to assist in connecting the human race for the ultimate purpose of peace.

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ARTIST RÉSUMÉ

Exhibitions:

Makeba has exhibited extensively in Chicago.  Her works have been displayed in Chicago at Nicole Galleries, The Art Institute, 4th Presbyterian Church, FlatFile Gallery, Wood Street Gallery, Makaar Studios, South Side Community Arts Center, South Shore Cultural Center, The Chicago Cultural Center, Around the Coyote Gallery, The House of Blues, Chicago State University, Hokin Gallery at Columbia College, The University of Illinois, Concordia University, and the Museum of Science and Industry as well as various other venues.  In 2004, Kedem-DuBose was selected as one of three artists including Dr. Margaret Burroughs, and W. Galmon to participate in a celebrity fundraiser exhibition for the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD), due to open in the Fall of 2005 in San Francisco.

Most recently Makeba's art was published nationally in "African Art" – The Diaspora and Beyond", The Daniel Texidor Parker Collection, 2004

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