{"id":9781,"date":"2021-06-30T00:17:36","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T00:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=9781"},"modified":"2021-06-30T00:22:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T00:22:36","slug":"the-art-of-noize-with-jamaal-barber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=9781","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Noize with Jamaal Barber"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Art of Noize with Jamaal Barber<\/b><\/p>\n

by D. Amari Jackson<\/span><\/pre>\n
Jamaal Barber never had a choice. Even if the Atlanta-based artist did, the answer would be the same.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI think for me, personally, art is something I <\/span>have<\/span><\/i> to do,\u201d acknowledges Barber, a gifted printmaker and painter. \u201cIt\u2019s not, so much, whether anybody ever saw anything I\u2019ve made, I\u00a0 know I have to express myself in this way. There\u2019s something about the act of filtering the world and creating something, and it\u2019s just a big part of who I am as an individual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Fortunately, others have seen the extraordinary art Barber has made. The full-time artist with an<\/span> MFA in printmaking from Georgia State University has done exhibitions and commissions for companies across the nation. His colorful works have been included in local and national shows and festivals, and published with the New York Times, Penguin Random House, Twitter, Emory University, and Black Art in America. Barber also hosts the <\/span>Studio Noize Podcast<\/span><\/a>, a weekly online platform<\/span> dialoguing with and celebrating Black artists.<\/span><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>Yet, despite such success and recognition, Barber reiterates the intimate nature of his particular creative process. \u201cI know that I need art personally, just to regulate my own emotions,\u201d he offers, noting \u201cfor me, all my work is super personal. If I\u2019m going to sacrifice to do something, I’m going to sacrifice and do this artwork whether anybody likes it or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI just think something about the process of it is healing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
For Barber, it always has been. Born in Virginia, and raised in Littleton, North Carolina, Barber relied upon art to navigate small town boredom and an underfunded school system.<\/span> \u201cMy thing to do, after I finished my work, was to draw on the back of my tests. That\u2019s kind of how I got along with drawing.\u201d He credits his early love for comic books and illustrated children\u2019s books as much-needed inspiration in this local setting. \u201cIn my town, at the height, there might\u2019ve been 1300 people. There was not a lot going on there, and you were looking for a way to escape, a way to be creative, and to not be bored. So art was one of the main ways I expressed myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Initially enrolling at East Carolina University for a business degree, Barber switched his major to art after taking it as an elective. After graduating, he followed his future wife to Atlanta where he eventually found<\/span> a job as a graphic designer for a sign company. Eight years in, Barber was laid off. He converted this challenge into an opportunity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, I’m gonna try this,\u201d recalls Barber, who had just discovered his interest in printmaking. \u201cSo I bought all the printmaking equipment I needed and then just kind of did my thing. I thought, let me take my shot and if I\u2019m going to fail, I\u2019m gonna fail going forward on my own terms.\u201d If need be, adds Barber, he could \u201calways go back and get a job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
However, after a few years of building his own career, Barber didn\u2019t have to. And he\u2019s been doing his own thing ever since, but not without some challenges of its own. Starting out, Barber remembers a lot of \u201ctrial and error\u201d and spending a lot of time making things \u201cnobody wanted.<\/span> I had been out there for about a year and some change before I started making stuff that I felt good about. I went to a show, an art walk or something, and I got a good response, like a way better response than I did before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The Center of the Universe acrylic on roofing paper mounted on wood panel 54″ x 72″<\/p><\/div>\n
The good responses have continued and increased along with Barber\u2019s forms of art. Today, the married father of two is an in-demand artist who runs and hosts his weekly podcast, Studio Noize, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other online platforms. With new episodes every Tuesday, Studio Noize connects listeners with Black artists creating the culture while highlighting the \u201ctechniques, practices, and inspirations of the very best in contemporary Black art.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cYou should be able to find this type of conversation, especially from a Black perspective,\u201d promotes Barber, noting \u201cI think it is super necessary. A lot of these podcasts center white artists and the white creative process, but that\u2019s not what we do.\u201d Barber elaborates on his own trips to the studios of various Black artists, both prominent and emerging, and how \u201cwe have long conversations, not just about art, but about their lives, you know what I\u2019m saying? What they are doing, what brushes they are using, what they are watching on TV. You can understand a lot about an artist by going to their studio and just talking to them, getting to know them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Still, even with his variety of current endeavors and successes, Barber understands\u2014and is quick to remind anyone who asks\u2014that his artistic process remains deeply personal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started printmaking, I decided I\u2019m gonna do what I feel like I need to,\u201d stresses Barber. \u201cAnd if nobody wants it, then nobody wants it, but I’m not going to try to chase trends or anything like that. I\u2019m going to stay true to myself. So I started basing my work on Black people, the Black people I saw around Littleton, around North Carolina. And that became the focus of my work, unapologetically.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Ultimately, for Barber, something so unapologetically creative, true, and personal is inherently healing.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I feel like there is a hole in my chest and the only way that I can ever fill it is by doing this artwork,\u201d he insists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cSo I have to do it. It\u2019s that kind of necessity for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“Black is Always Black” by Jamaal Barber<\/p><\/div>\n
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\"\"AMARI JACKSON\u00a0<\/b>is a creator, author, TV\/web\/film producer, and award-winning journalist. He is author of the 2011 novel,\u00a0The Savion Sequence<\/i>; creator\/writer\/coproducer of the 2012-2014 web series\u00a0The Book Look<\/i>; writer\/coproducer of the 2016 film\u00a0Edge of the Pier<\/i>; and current writer\/coproducer of\u00a0Listen Up!<\/i>\u00a0on HBCU GO\/Roku TV. He is a former Chief of Staff for a NJ State Senator; a former VP of Communications & Development for the Jamestown Project at Harvard University; and a recipient of several writing fellowships including the George Washington Williams Fellowship from the Independent Press Association. An active ghost writer, song writer, martial artist, and journalist, his writings have appeared in a wide variety of national and regional publications.<\/p>\n
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