In Search of Myself Paintings by Floyd Strickland My art is unique because of my worldview and upbringing, which has been directly shaped by being raised in south central Los Angeles. Simply put, there are not many visual artists from my community. My art occupies a space that, in a lot of ways, is still uncharted. Because the subject matter focuses heavily on the experiences of my childhood, understanding my environment and its actors, I am mining my own experiences for inspiration. I created In Search of Myself to explore the varying relationships between black children in specific environments. From gang violence to systemic racism, my art is heavily influenced by my childhood dreams, hopes, and fears. Because of this I often use figures of children in my work. More specifically, black children who are raised in the areas that have been historically linked to poverty. This body of work is grounded in my experience as a child and as an adult. I believe the innocence of black children is not correctly represented in the cannon of figurative portrait painting. Having held jobs in various impoverished neighborhood grade schools across the United States, In Search of Myself is linked by a recurring theme: creating images of empowerment. Exhibition Dates: December 8 through January 19, 2019.