You don’t have to be an art aficionado to immediately recognize a Warren Stylez Harvey painting.
While his style has evolved slightly over the past 15 years, it’s consistently his.
You’ll recognize his very modern art by its geometric feel, vibrant colors, the lines that weave through it. And, there are always sketches, not always completely developed, of Black faces.
His work is unapologetically Black art.
“I have to paint myself and a different version of me,” says Harvey. In part, he says he does it for people who look like him.
For them, he wants his art to be “a reminder of who they are, the light that shines in them, the God that lives within them, and the authority that God has given them.”
Harvey, 37, is one of the most prolific artists in Kansas City who admits to painting almost daily and professionally since his early 20s. If you look deeply at the body of his work over those years, you’ll see a subtle evolution.
“I have a style, and over the years, I go deeper and deeper into that style and experiment and say, ‘Okay, let me take this aspect of it, then add this.’ So my art is always in alignment with my voice, but it always branches off to different ways,” he explains.
As an example, you still see the lines, but they show up differently. Once almost consistently black, now you’ll occasionally see white lines in his work.
“I don’t want to get bored. I want to experiment on different things and just go deeper and deeper into my voice.”
He found his style by experimenting, just sitting down to paint without a plan, but making it a habit to express himself.
“The more I did that, it honestly felt like an inner guidance,” says Harvey. “Being an artist is really about your relationship itself and that inner feeling that says, ‘okay, yeah, this stroke is the right stroke.’”
A very spiritual person, Harvey says God – the universe – always orchestrates things that bring on his next evolution. He doesn’t have to make it happen. It just happens organically.
Harvey’s Path
Harvey says he’s been drawing ever since he can remember. Like most artists, he had an early proclivity to draw, even when he shouldn’t have been. In school, he was sketching, instead of paying attention.
“So at an early age I recognize I’m resonating with this,” he says. “I just felt the need to continue to do it. Without any extra thought because it felt right. It felt like it was coming from here (he points to his heart) and I just kept sticking to it.”
After high school, he tried to work a 9-to-5 job, but his struggle with mental health issues, including Bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders, made regular interaction with people difficult.
The disorders still impact his personal life, but he feels they benefit his creative life.
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for my mental journey, I wouldn’t create the way I do. I create so much because it’s also a reflection of my obsessiveness. Whatever I do — good or bad — I really commit.”
Art helps him feel good in the midst of his mental challenges.
“It (art) was something that was holding me up as I was fighting (mental illness), as an escape to a point where, like you know, it wouldn’t take me completely away, but it would soothe me while being challenged.
Harvey’s mental health struggles aren’t unique in the creative realm; many well-known artists, writers, and musicians, including Vincent van Gogh and Beethoven, are often cited as struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental health issues.
While there is some evidence suggesting a relationship between creativity and certain forms of mental illness, it is a complex and nuanced topic.
Striving Black Artists
While Harvey is one of the most well-known Black artists in Kansas City, he identifies himself as a striving artist as opposed to a successful one.
Not to be confused with starving artists, striving artists are defined as individuals working hard to achieve recognition, improve their craft, or make a living through their art. The term emphasizes the dedication, perseverance, and challenges associated with pursuing a creative career.
While his mental health disorders may have helped him create, he recognizes they’re holding him back when it comes to expanding his following and marketing his work.
His mother – whom he gives a shout-out to – has always been one of his biggest supporters. A recently retired educator, she’s stepping forward to help him develop his art as a business.
Some of his larger pieces sell for between $2,000 to $3,000 each, but his smaller pieces remain more reasonably priced. However, his pieces are starting to creep up both in price and value.
Recognizing the prices may be a stretch for some of his followers, he’s begun offering a limited number of prints from some of his work.
Despite what some may call his success, Harvey says there’s a real struggle for Black artists, particularly in KC.
“There’s a lack of appreciation for Black lives and it’s going to reflect in Black art as well,” says Harvey.
However, he says he’s beginning to see positive change, with more opportunities for people to see Black art, like the two-year-old 18th and Vine Art Festival that showed the art of nearly all the Black artists from around the region.
Opportunities like the festival help expose Black art to more individuals and grow both fans and collectors.
He also sees the change in the growing number of talented Black artists who are taking their work seriously and fine-tuning their craft.
“It’s allowing us to believe in ourselves more, and the more we do that the more we inspire each other, the more it (Black Art) will be recognized.”
Sometimes it gets difficult and it’s a sacrifice, but Harvey has no plans of giving up or out.
“I look back from time to time, but my heart is always just rooted in art.”
