Pheoris West

Pheoris West (August 17, 1950 – January 23, 2021)[1][2] was an African-American artist. He was an Associate Professor Emeritus Ohio State University College of the Arts, where he joined the faculty in 1976.[3][4]

Pheoris West
Born(1950-08-17)August 17, 1950
Albany, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 2021(2021-01-23) (aged 70)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Yale University M.F.A.
Occupation
  • Artist
  • educator
Years active1974–2021
Spouse(s)Louise Calio (m. 1972; div. 1976)
Michele Hoff (m. 1979)
Childrenthree sons (triplets), one daughter
Websitewww.pheoriswest.com/index.html

Early life

West was born in 1950 in Albany, New York.[5][6] He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University.[7]

Career

West's areas of expertise are painting and drawing, computer graphics, and design. Major influences on his early artistic development included the works of Romare Bearden, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and the 1970s Black arts collective AfriCOBRA.[8]

"In my artwork I’m always striving for an ideal image, one that is based on balance and harmony. The choice for representing the human form is deliberate and extremely important. I celebrate humanity as godly images, the embodiment of the four essential elements of earth, air, fire, and water."

Pheoris West, in St. James Guide to Black Artists (1997)

His art has been shown in various art displays since 1970. Examples of his work are held in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, the Museo Civico D’arts Contemporaneo Di Gibilina, Palermo, Italy, and the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati. He took part in the national touring exhibition “To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities".[9] He was a curator for the 1999 "HOMAGE TO JAZZ" at the Martin Luther King Center in Columbus, Ohio. He has also served on the National Endowment of the Arts Expansion Arts Panel, the International Juror National Exhibition of Zimbabwe, and the Ohio Arts Council.

West considered himself an Afrocentric artist. He does not align with modern or post-modern artists. He prefers to integrate the importance of a strong moral society with cultural traditions. Africa is the source for classical art traditions and African and American cultures inspire his imagery. He symbolizes a universal message through the use of traditional tales, mythologies and religion. His most common subject was the black woman. He considered her a symbol for Mother Earth, for the cradle of humanity. She represents the theorized oldest evidence of humanity recently found in Ethiopia. In his work “The Garden” he paints Eve as an enchanting black woman.[10] The painting creates a spiritual energy from the layers of imagery and the balance of color and form.

A solo exhibition Urban Warriors: A Retrospective[11] in the Shot Tower Gallery at Fort Hayes, highlights the strength and energy of his body of work.

West taught at Ohio State University until he suffered a debilitating stroke in March 2016.[12]

In May of 2019, was the exhibit Start at Home: Influence, Commitment, Integrity at Urban Arts Space at Ohio State University. There were 143 artworks by H. Ike Okafor-Newsum, Robert J. Stull (1935-1994) and Pheoris West, who all taught in Ohio State’s art or black studies departments.[13] Though no longer painting, West did attend the exhibit and greeted gallery patrons.[14]

Publications

Art included
  • Lewis, Samella S. (1994), African American Art and Artists, University of California Press, OCLC 752317650
  • Powell, Richard; Reynolds, Jock; Conwill, Kinshasha (1999), To conserve a legacy: American art from historically black colleges and universities, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, OCLC 912153924
  • Riggs, Thomas; Dodson, Howard (1997), St. James Guide to Black Artists, St. James Press, OCLC 36470125

As Writer
  • West, Pheoris; Cox, Chandra; Adams, Alma S. (1988), American Homeland African Motherland: The Art of Pheoris West, African American Atelier, Inc., OCLC 1135758417

References
  1. Gordon, Ken (26 January 2021). "Columbus artist Pheoris West dies at 70; remembered as teacher and storyteller". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  2. "Pheoris West". art.osu.edu. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  3. Thompson, Erica. "'The Rising Spirit' of Pheoris West". Columbus Alive. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  4. "Pheoris West". art.osu.edu. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  5. Brockton Art Museum (1980). Aspects of the 70's: Spiral, Afro-American art in the seventies. s.n.
  6. Edmund B. Gaither (1980). Aspects of the 70's: Spiral : Afro-American Art of the 70's : May 17–June 15, 1980, the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Museum.
  7. Johnson Publishing Company (August 1978). "Ebony". Ebony.(Serial). Johnson Publishing Company: 150–. ISSN 0012-9011.
  8. Riggs, Thomas (1998). St. James guide to Black artists, Pheoris West profile. St. James Press. p. 562. ISBN 978-1-55862-220-3. OCLC 1105734744. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  9. Richard J. Powell; Jock Reynolds; Studio Museum in Harlem (1999). To conserve a legacy: American art from historically Black colleges and universities. Addison Gallery of American Art. ISBN 978-0-262-16186-2.
  10. Riggs, Thomas (1998). St. James guide to Black artists, Pheoris West profile. St. James Press. p. 561. ISBN 978-1-55862-220-3. OCLC 1105734744. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  11. Dispatch, Melissa Starker, For The Columbus. "Powerful paintings by Pheoris West in retrospective". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  12. Thompson, Erica. "'The Rising Spirit' of Pheoris West". Columbus Alive. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  13. "Visual arts | Works by influential African Americans who taught at Ohio State University on display". The Columbus Dispatch. June 16, 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  14. Space, OSU Urban Arts (13 July 2019). "Start at Home: Pheoris West". Retrieved 19 July 2020.
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