Wesley Walker

BFA Painting

DESIGNER STATEMENT: I found such a powerful emotional pull when painting these artists in grayscale. I like painting subjects that have been a part of my life. Their music echoed through my home of youth almost daily. My grandmother would sit by the radio listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and you could tell that she was in joyful memories of her past that made her smile. 

The musical enjoyment of these artists is not to say that America did not have an issue with race doing the swing era, especially with Black Americans, who were not seen or treated as American citizens. White America loved the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington, but these artists could not stay or eat at the same hotels where they played. Benny Goodman was titled the King of Swing, by the white musical press, but he did not believe that title was his alone. Even with all of that, swing music gave listening pleasure to all Americans.

I wanted to paint these pictures because of their connections to my family and my past, Swing artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington gave me that connection.

For that time in my life, my media world was grayscale. The images of these artists that I saw as a youth were grayscale. In printed form, they were grayscale, and in rare moments when they performed on television, it was in grayscale. 

Painting in grayscale pulls at my youth, adds to the story of my childhood! Swing Music is Jazz, Swing Music was America!