January 05, 2023

By Keith Underwood

Contributing Writer

 

International artist and creator Keisha Manijean’s twin brother was one of her first art subjects growing up.  She also expressed her early aptitude for drawing by recreating Disney video covers. 

Manijean, a proud product of Compton, California says, “I was just always creating something.”

Her formal training began at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.  Ms. Jackson, one of her teachers, who taught life drawing and 2D Design, helped Manijean sharpen her art skills.

“She thought it was nice to see a young Black woman using her talents to do something with her life,” said Manijean.

Although, she is world-traveled, Manijean says, the COVID-19 pandemic squashed many opportunities to do showings in New York, London and beyond, so she started her own livestream called, “Artapeutic.”

“It was my therapy through art,” as Manijean coins it because she needed therapy after she couldn’t go to London.  “I taught and painted on the shows and have over 65 episodes,” Manijean said.

She has been honored with a Renee Phillips Award for her work, Red Chair. 

Additionally, Manijean is the winner of the 2019 Destig Magazine Artist of the Year award for Best Concept for her project, The Age of Universal Love. 

 

 

The Age of Universal Love is a surreal art series which depicts the phases and stages of love depicted through spoons and forks. 

She began Universal Love in college, and the now over 25-year-old project has added 60 new pieces to the series.

“It’s self-love, self-development between a spoon and fork.  The fork is consciousness and the spoon is sound (hearing and listening),” expressed Manijean. 

She also never specifically addresses gender in her work because she believes that those norms bind her creative process.

“I don’t do a male/female thing because art is interpretive. 

 

We should not be bound by those preconceived notions based on gender because everybody must eat and everybody must love,” professed Manijean.

The forks and spoons are metaphors for sustenance, but in Manijean’s creative mind, “love is the food and if you don’t eat it, you die.”

“My piece, Solo is probably my absolute favorite because I was yearning and seeking out self-love,” said Manijean.  “It was a lonely road and even though I’m a twin, I still had to find self-love.

“Twilight is another one of my favorites,” commented Manijean.  “It’s the one with a fork and spoon sitting on a bench.”  Soulmate is another Manijean standout, and in Manijean’s words, “completes a trilogy.”

“I could go on and on about all of them, that’s 25-years of my work… they’re all my favorites… it’s been my life,” said Manijean.

Today, Manijean has up to eight art series including We Be Trees and State of the World, but Universal Love is still her largest.  Manijean muses, “and more is still to come.”

For more information on Keisha Manijean and her Age of Universal Love art series, visit https://kmanijean.artspan.com/home.

 

3 PHOTOS:

 

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Keisha Manijean (Courtesy Photo)

 

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Twilight (Courtesy Photo)

 

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Cover of “The Age of Universal Love” (Courtesy Photo)

 

Category: Arts & Culture