Ashanté Josey

Ashanté Josey is a visual artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ashanté enjoys working with a variety of mediums. The primary mediums Ashanté works with are acrylic and oil on canvas. She centers her technique on blending. With influences as diverse as Frida Kahlo and Kehinde Wiley, faces are what she paints mostly. She appreciates their distinctiveness and the limitless conditions to creating portraits. Her enthusiasm for painting was cultivated in high school in 2009, taking extracurricular art classes. In 2012, Ashanté attended The Pennsylvania State University. During her time at Penn State, she continued to take multiple art courses to feed her need for creative freedom, while pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History. Her interest for painting further developed after graduation in 2016. In 2018, Ashanté decided to pursue art full-time. She has had three solo-exhibitions; E11even, If God Were a Person, and Free Mind. Ashanté has also participated in many group shows as well as an involvement in public art projects. She has enjoyed working on projects with GetGo, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Carnegie Museum of Art, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, The International Airport, The University of Pittsburgh and more. With her passion for visual arts and experience, Ashanté is looking to use her art to heal, reaching as many people as she can with her artwork in museums, streets, schools, books, businesses and so much more.

Ashanté statement
As a painter, my work is exemplifying black people, especially black women, as spiritual beings. My work is speaking about the beauty that exists in black culture and our spiritual essence. With influences as diverse as Frida Kahlo and Kehinde Wiley, faces are what I paint mostly. Faces are distinct and there are no limits to creating them. I am consistent with painting faces that express a state of calmness and peace. The state of peace represents the spiritual aspect of
each painting.
I primarily work with acrylics and oil on canvas. I center my technique on blending skin tones with solid backgrounds. I work with all brown scales and gray scales for my portraits. Each portrait is complemented by specific earth tone colors, for the background, that correlate with the significance of that particular painting.
My painting process begins with inspiration from black people, culture and emotion. I analyze colors and symbols that correspond with my feelings in that moment. As an artist, I work hard to develop paintings that portray symbolism. Everything from the placements, colors, and facial expressions have a specific meaning. I am mostly inspired about how we think, how conditioned mindsets affect our culture, and how we can begin to recondition our minds to be our best selves and live our best black lives. I create to remind black women, specifically, of their divine nature. We don’t see us enough. I create black women with natural kinky hair, dark skin, confident posture, and a Godlike essence. Not only am I reminding black women of their nature, I am saying to the rest of the world to make room for black women. My art brings life to the culture of black people and spirituality. The calling of my creativity is derived from all types of creative expressions. I am influenced by nature, people, music, and black culture. I manifest these influences into my work through symbolism. I am also inspired by impressionism, realism, and abstractions. When I create, I intend to trigger the thought of healing of the spirit. When someone looks at my work, I want it to create the same inspiration for them that I had while creating that piece.