BIFF OFFSCREEN: Colored People

Thursday October 10 through Thursday October 17 @ The Bijou

Colored People, 54x36" oil and acrylic on canvas, 2000

Part of the Electric Primitive series, Colored People harkens back to cubism and surrealism but expands upon their typical palettes by incorporating bold, bright colors and African, Caribbean, and South American cultural influences. The series features an array of portraits, as well as visual depictions of dreams, visions, African ancestry, and various otherworldly elements.

About the Artist:

LeRoi Johnson has been creating art for over 45 years, utilizing his varied thematic tones to craft consistently eye-catching and aesthetically pleasant art forms. LeRoi was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and began drawing and painting after an accident left him hospitalized from ages ten to thirteen. Art became his escape. LeRoi came from a large family that included Rick James, whom he spent part of his career managing. Already an accomplished classical guitarist and visual artist in his own right, he went on to help build his brother’s Mary Jane Productions into one of the largest minority-owned entertainment businesses in the 1980s; managing artists including Rick James, The Mary Jane Girls, Process and the Doo Rags, Val Young, and more.

He is a Canisius College graduate, attended the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Design, and is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. In addition to working as an artist, LeRoi is a prominent Buffalo attorney, whose areas of practice include entertainment, personal injury, business, real estate, criminal, estate, and corporate law. In 2020, he was the recipient of the Buffalo Business First Legal Elite Lifetime Achievement Award.

LeRoi has exhibited at museums, art galleries, and art fairs across the globe, including the London Biennale, Archivo National do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro), Agora Gallery (New York), Studio Vogue Gallery (Toronto) and many more. Burchfield Penney Art Center (Buffalo) presented a major retrospective of his work, LEROI: Living in Color in 2022. He is currently represented by Arttour International. For more info, visit http://leroiart.com/