Dammit Wesley
Year: 2019
Location: Boileryard
Dammit Wesley is known as a connector, as the operator of on-site gallery and studio BlkMrktCLT and one of the architects behind the viral Durag Festival. His space at Camp North End has become known for the “Let’s Talk Dammit,” where artists meet to critique, discuss the challenges of being a working artist, and navigate the Charlotte art scene together. Wesley’s own practice has evolved, as well, further blending styles and pop elements with surprising results. His door is part of his broader experimentation with a looser style, with the mural arranging elements in a manner akin to collage. Civil Rights figure Kathleen Cleaver is the central figure in the painting, with elements of Marvel Comics characters Black Panther and The Hulk swirling around her. “I like using motifs from Marvel Comics, specifically, because Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were telling stories about Civil Rights during Civil Rights through these fictional characters that are just now getting their just due.”
Wesley paired these particular characters because of Cleaver’s membership within the real-life Black Panther Party and the broader African-American story as it relates to the Hulk: “Even though we may be highly intelligent, we’re seen as big, brooding monsters of destruction by some.”