Anthony Jackson (Bugzdale)

"Through my art, I amplify ideas about the black experience in our society. I focus on the themes that affect my community: class, race, police brutality, corrupt government, death, and other issues, to show the way in which black men and women are made targets, and to find a way to celebrate the lives of these under-represented individuals. I create a world where these people can survive, and find a way to be themselves, while being free from imprisonment, both metaphorical and real. 
I am a black man fighting for equality and social justice. My Jamaican-American background, connections with people, my dual communities of Queens and Jamaica, and outside of it, old family photos, and my memories all inform the way I make art. My art aims to spark questions. I am critical of conventions surrounding the hierarchy of subject matter and the materials traditionally used in painting. Thinking about the fragility of our existence, I strive to use materials that make real connections with the subject matter to capture the feeling of life’s preciousness."