Seen from my car, at the corner of 40th and Telegraph, at the edge of the Temescal, in Oakland, California.
Ajuan Mance
Category Archives: Art, Black Men, African American, Artist
1001 Black Men #822
It’s Rickey from Comic-Con! I saw him there in 2013, and I drew a profile portrait of him wearing an Adventure Time hat. In 2014, he had significantly longer hair and the beginnings of what promised to be an impressive beard. Weirdly enough, he did remember me, from when I approached him the year before. He’s a really nice guy with a great smile, and I hope we cross paths this summer, at SDCC15.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #821
Comic-Con 2014 was the first and only time I ever saw a Black person wearing Google glass.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #820
Here’s another drawing from the Comic-Con 2014 sketchbook that I dug out from the bottom of my backpack.
I first met Viktor Kerney at the Prism Comics booth at Comic-Con 2014. It was my first time tabling there, and he was very welcoming. Viktor writes the webcomic StrangeLore, a queer horror/supernatural story with gothic elements that centers the lives of men of color.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #819
This drawing comes from the way, way back machine known as last summer’s sketchbook. I was sitting across the aisle from this brotha, on the San Diego Trolley. This was during Comic-Con 2014. We were both riding from the Double Tree Mission Valley to the Convention Center, and I couldn’t take my eyes off his hat. It looked a little like the hat Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble used used to wear to their meetings of the Water Buffalo Lodge.
In preparation for doing this post, I spent a few minutes trying to track down the meaning of this hat. I knew this brotha was doing some kind of cosplay thing, but I have looked at this drawing at least 20 times since I first made it, and I could never figure out the meaning of this costume. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I was finally able to track down the name of the character the headpiece in this picture was supposed to represent.
I have to share with you my process, because it’s just more evidence that the internet hive mind is smarter that us all. I did a simple Google image search for “furry blue hat with an x on it.” This brotha’s hat came up on the second screen of results.
It turns out that this hat is worn by the Japanese manga and anime character Tony Tony Chopper, human/reindeer hybrid who also happens to be a physician for the Straw Hat Pirates. The x on his hat is a medical cross turned sideways.
The brotha in this drawing goes into the Black Cosplayers Hall of Fame, with special honors for shameless commitment to a shape-shifting, child-sized genetic experiment. Huzzah!
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #818
I spotted this gentleman in the card shop next door to Gaylord’s on Piedmont Ave. It was Valentine’s Day, and he and I were shopping for the same reason. Some might call it procrastination, but for people like him and me, it’s not that we don’t care enough about our love ones to buy gifts and cards ahead of time. Rather, it’s that we care too much. When you want to get just the right thing for that special person, sometimes it’s hard to even know where to start…until Valentine’s Day finally rolls around, and you have no choice but to decide on that perfect card and gift. To the untrained eye, it looks like waiting around until the last minute, but it’s really an example of what loving someone too much can look like.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #817
On the sidewalk outside Peet’s Coffee and Tea, Telegraph Ave., Oakland.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #816
At the Arbor Cafe, Telegraph Ave., Oakland, CA.
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I was postering for the annual Art of Living Black Open Studios Weekend at Mills College (TAOLB at Mills for those familiar with the event), when I dropped in to the Arbor Cafe to leave some postcards. That’s where I saw this brother with the fabulous afro. I’ve taken some artistic license with the table and seating, and both are a bit smaller than they were in real life; but I really wanted to capture the way this tall, thin, slightly effete Black man seemed to have folded himself into a table and chair situation that was intended for someone much shorter.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #815
Sunday morning at the Buttercup Grill & Bar in Oakland, CA.
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I’m baaaaack!
It’s been a whirlwind of a spring semester for me in my other (but related) life as a professor of African American literature, and I’m really glad to be able to return to posting portraits of Bay Area Black men.
Even when I’m not posting, I’m still drawing; and I’m literally backlogged by about 126 drawings. Even during those periods when I don’t have time to sit down at my computer and upload my art, I am still sketching the men I encounter in my daily travels. The 1001 Black men project is still active, even during those weeks when I’m not regularly updating my website. In the last few days, I’ve had time to add color to my drawings, and I now I submit them, humbly, for your inspection and enjoyment.
During the month of May, I’ll be posting daily (with a couple of possible exceptions). By the end of the first week of June, I hope to have posted all of my backlogged drawings, and then some. My goal is to have all of this work done in time for the opening of my upcoming show at Oakland’s Solespace, on Friday, June 5.
Check back here for more art and more details about my show. Hope to see you there!
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #814
I’ve got less that 200 drawings left, and my goal is to have completed this series by the beginning of June. Every 100 drawings, I’ve tried to take stock of which kinds of Black men and Black men’s experiences I’ve depicted in my drawings and which kinds of brothas I’ve overlooked.
At this point, I know that I still have some work to do in terms of the inclusion of homeless men, gender non-forming men, and the young brothas in the baggy pants and big shirts. It has also occurred to me that one of the places I enjoy seeing Black men most is in their cars. Whether young or old, alone or with friends, in a late-model lexus or a vintage conversion van, brothas in their cars are the embodiment of independence–the fundamental refusal to be told where to go, how to be, and when to be it. To me, they look like freedom
I love how a man like the one is this drawing–an elder who doesn’t drive with as much speed and control as he used to–is nonetheless holding space, driving slower in the passing lane than is really acceptable, but either oblivious to or uninterested in other peoples’ honking, gestures, and tailgating. Even if he doesn’t own a home, and even if he’s never been anybody’s boss, his car is his domain, and he’s going to drive it however he wants.
Ajuan Mance