Go Tell It On The Mountain / James and William by Ricardo Osmondo Francis

Go Tell It On The Mountain / James and William, 2023, Acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas, 36 x 30 inches

Go Tell It On The Mountain/ James and William” is an oblique portrait of writer, essayist, and social warrior James Baldwin. In the painting, James is dressed as a gentleman from a long ago century from Europe and is paired with an opulent still life and bust of William Shakespeare. Embedded in the background are symbolic clues and or impressions of the author. Like his writing, I wish to give the viewer an in-depth portrait of an absolutely brilliant man who in life and in his surviving works speak so eloquently on the often uncomfortable topics of race and sexuality. Mr. Baldwin was truly a needed conscious and is still presently helping to educate humankind on how to better treat and understand each other.

Ricardo Osmondo Francis was born September 8, 1976, in Houston, Texas. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD, and received a BFA in 1998, in painting. Inspired by Classical art, multi-ethnic antiquity, and present day advertisement imagery, Francis’ vivid pictorial works present a torrent of imagery culled from every possible corner of the visual culture. His lush elaborately graphic surrealistic paintings and drawings often depict the social constructs of humanity and the complexity of our existence through conceptually layered portraiture, still life, and abstract compositions. Since 1992, he has created a wide variety of community based, innovative multimedia projects and exhibitions such as The New Museum (1994), Public Opinion (1996), and All Sizes/Real People (1997). In 2000 Francis developed his own visual arts company, called Apanamae Productions and produced solo exhibits like Exhibit A (2002) and New sKIN (2003). Currently he is the Gallery Director of Leonides Arts NY. From 2011 to 2014, Francis served as Curator in Residence for both the 32 Jones Gallery at the Hudson Pride Connections Center in Jersey City, NJ, and the Brooklyn Community Pride Center in Brooklyn, NY. Francis was also a contributing curator for the annual multidisciplinary LGBTQ event EVERYBOOTY at BAM. Recent solo exhibitions include TURN OF THE CENTURY (2014), MYTHIC / POETIC (2016-2018), RE:VIEW (2018), and TO BE CONTINUED(2020).