My City August 2021

MYARTS

THE ART & PHILOSOPHY OF JAMES THIGPEN, JR.

perspective. As an added special ingre dient, each work holds a little bit of imself and his home city. “Every piece s a collage constructed from multiple mages and each one reflects a little of ome,” he says. “Flint shaped all I know. ve lived in other cities and you can’t un away from it – it’s in you, not on you. t’s in how I think and talk. You can see ints of it in what I do. I wouldn’t say my rt is glamorous, but you can still see the beauty. It’s there and it’s authentic.” p

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J creates a new piece of art, he takes his time. Using a multitude

of photographs, he designs each piece exactly how he sees it inside himself. His unique style, evolved throughout the course of his life, portrays the African American experience from a universal

Svitlana / stock.adobe.com

BY PETER HINTERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM JAGIELO AND PROVIDED BY JAMES THIGPEN, JR.

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