When I think of artists, it’s often off of a rigid mindset that an artist is and/or can only be one or two things or can only fall into one or two categories. I think this is one of the dysfunctional concepts of what it is to be human; as if we cannot grow past one point, stage, shape or function within reality. I believe this is what informs our level of comfort as seeing someone becoming unfamiliar and changing as a discomfort. A person being recognized for a long period of time leaves us comfortable with them whereas when someone is constantly changing and evolving and capable of being an outlier or standout because have not or do not conform to society leaves us impacted. What’s key to recognize is when one is moving from stage, phase or shape of being, it’s a kind of growth.

Me?

I started this life as William Burrell Philpot IV. Named after a man and a family not my own and often disregarded, Abandoned and left alone more than I should’ve as a child, I had to rely often on me. I began and grew within dysfunction. As I grew older, I came to understand that I needed to change and adapt to the often new, changing, different and difficult scenarios of life—my life. Beginning with a talent for art, art would often be sidelined or unconsciously sidetracked to maintain my survival or a sense of survival while becoming a man.

As I finally became stable, I began to focus more and more on my abilities as an artist. I then became…an Artist. As an office worker, I learned my capabilities as a desktop publisher and graphic designer. Aware of the need to compartmentalize the normalized life of being a Father and a husband, I began to step into Photography—a world I had only previously glimpsed while working in news and events publication. It then became my (then) newest artistry. Liam Ian (Black) was manifested and brought to the forefront.

I was—and still am—informed…by what was around me; a pride for what was current, hood, urban and Black. Hip-hop. Clothing, Fashion and Style. Women. The DC Go-Go scene. The New York thug persona. The dogmatic and stigmatizing identity of the urban Black Man. Black Women as goddesses and then play things. Sex. Poetry. A hope for the future due to Sci-fi and an associated interest technology. The urgency—the then urgent need—of African American Intelligence and Sophistication as the new African American Identity. Now?

I create because of the resources given to me. I create because of the advantages I’ve worked hard for. I create for the Blessings set upon me that have remained my possessions that I feel they should’ve dissolved away some time ago due to laziness, hesitation, procrastination and avoidance throughout the years. Then again, perhaps it was more due to distraction and dysfunction that just prevented me from being able to make artistry a substantial part of my life.

Now, I’m into the resurgence—The Resurgence—of intellectualism within being African American but now…beyond that. Whether as a Man, Artist or Entrepreneur, I act because of an acknowledgment that I soon will not exist in this form anymore. It is thru our artistry, our acts of creativity, compassion and analyses of Life that we become more. I create whatever my heart, mind and soul moves to because it is what resides deeply within. Whether cartoon art, inspirational designs, nude photography it is—at the end—the cumulative body of work that then becomes the masterpiece.

I am an Artist of late 90’s to early 2000’s Hip Hop, Rap, Soul and R&B culture. I’m an Artist of maleness and manhood…loving the female body in the most respectful and dysfunctional forms available to me. I am an Artist of Integrity, Honesty and a Loyal adherence to a Pride of Intelligence, Ethnicity and Innovation. I’m vulgar and angry and peaceful and modest. I’m organic—shifting and changing. I’m an Artistry loves the word Fuck and responds to the need of empathy to those who show it. I’m a complex Man of Color, Ethnicity and Culture born out of the many cultural dysfunctions that would either demonize, diminish, encapsulate, incarcerate, or truly destroy those who look like me therefore I am also a complex Artist and Work of Art.

LIAM IAN

What kind of Artist am I?