The Surrealistic Vision of SKY BLACK By Amy Young 8 JAVA MAGAZINE
Photo by Kassandra Kraus Flagstaff-based artist Sky Black currently has a couple of ways to see his work in Phoenix. There is the epic solo exhibition Before We Forget Ourselves at downtown’s monOrchid Gallery. Travelers or anyone who just wants to pop by the airport to visit the Sky Harbor Museum can also see Black’s art in Terminal 3, where three paintings are on display through August 26. Black is a native of Arizona, born in Flagstaff, who traveled around as a youth with his mother and brother, living in a few places – including the Hopi reservation – before they settled down in Michigan. Black’s affinity for Flagstaff was satisfied by regular visits to see his father and other family members, soaking up as much nature as possible on river rafting and camping trips. Back home in Michigan, especially in his early high school years, Black was an avid baseball and basketball player, considering a career in professional sports. Things took a turn, though, when he suffered an injury his sophomore year. “I decided to come out to Flagstaff for a semester,” he says, “and that’s when I really started thinking about art and focusing on that. My grandma was a professional painter, and we inherited her supplies and oil paints. I was always attracted to them. They had this mystical quality for me. Prior to that, I’d always associated them with art you would see in museums or in cathedrals. I was so attracted to the colors.” Before he got involved with the oil paints, Black says he had been drawing most of his life. “I was always sketching. Even back in first grade I remember being really good at perspective.” He cites his mother as an important part of his artistic development. “She’s an early childhood educator and would always try to bring out our best talents. I grew up with seven brothers and sisters, and we’ve all gone in different directions. One is a farmer, one a microbiologist, another is a teacher. My mom now owns and runs her own school, and I think we were her prototypes. She has a freedom-of-choice attitude and let us evolve on our own.” Around that fateful sophomore year is when Black really cranked up the sketching. “I’d spent time back and forth between Michigan and Arizona, so I became ineligible [for sports],” he says. “I also went through my first heartbreak that year and couldn’t stop sketching.” He ended up back in Flagstaff for his senior year and feels lucky to have gotten an art teacher who also gave him freedom. “The art room at school was under construction, and things were chaotic. I showed the teacher my portfolio and sketchbook, and she let me work on my own, like it was an independent study,” he recalls. “My art teachers in Michigan were more controlling, and that didn’t help foster the creative process.” During this time, Black made the first oil painting that was very significant to him, called “Radiohead,” in reference to the band that he says has been a huge influence. He went back to Michigan after graduation and worked on a large-scale project with another artist for entry in the annual ArtPrize competition. It made him need to decide between staying there to do that or taking advantage of a scholarship to NAU. Figuring that “school will always be there if I want to go,” he stayed. The pair didn’t win, but they placed in the top 75 of 2,000 entries. Black says that the other artist helped him hone his oil painting techniques, so it was a beneficial choice all around. That achievement under his belt, Black once again headed to Flagstaff. He was 19 at the time, and that’s when he really started selling his original paintings. He was doing the Flagstaff First Friday art walk and took the promotion very seriously. He also found another mentor in acclaimed artist Joe Sorren, who spent many years in Northern Arizona. Sorren’s dreamy and surreal paintings have received much international recognition. “My mom has known Joe for many years,” he says. “He really gave me a lot of great advice on the narrative and storytelling aspects of my work, as well as how to handle the business side, like pricing and dealing with galleries.” “I’ve always been concerned with a narrative type of surrealism and combining things that haven’t been combined,” says Black, “and Joe always reminded me that no two artists will ever tell a story the same way.” Color choices are an early point of notice in Black’s work. He definitely shares with Sorren a tendency to present them gently. They’re soft and subtle, generally. When he does use deeper or bolder colors, they don’t come at you like a punch in the face, but they make you take notice. JAVA 9 MAGAZINE