Diana Greene Winston-Salem Monthly February 2008 Artist in Residence: James Huff

To say artist James Huff is a visual artist is an understatement. The Winston-Salem man loves to paint and draw, yes, but his mind works fulltime conjuring images. Whatever he hears, whatever he reads, whatever thought floats through his mind appears visually. No wonder he hasn’t experienced a creative block since something like 1972 when he was a nineteen year old art student living in Atlanta.

“I think in images,” Huff says, standing in his spacious living room, every wall full of art created by him or his wife, Earnestine, who passed away in 2005. “I actually see what a person says and that’s helped me a lot.”

Take one of his new works, “I Am My Brother’s Keeper.” While the painting is informed by the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel, it’s inspired by what Huff perceives as a global yearning for peace. That is the reason Huff converted the original question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” into a declarative statement.

At the center of the square canvas stand two brothers alone in the desert. The older boy carries the younger on his back and the weight of that task is palpably stark. The brothers have paused while the older boy, exhausted with his back bent over and head bowed, gathers strength for the continuing journey. The younger boy stares out over his brother’s back; he looks expectant and serious. Every line, brushstroke, and color conveys the solemnity of two boys alone in the world with only each other to depend on.

Huff’s figurative art is exacting, each line builds momentum and evokes emotion in his large scale works that reach for an expression that is arresting, if not epic in scope. As a rule, his pieces stretch at least five feet by five feet; they are made to be read easily and from a distance. The murals he’s made locally and nationally expand well beyond those dimensions.

“I like doing really big things that jump at you,” he says. “It’s got to have the boom, pow, bam.” Huff considers his bold surfaces a distinctly American aesthetic. As an instructor of art history and art appreciation at North Carolina A & T, he knows where his work fits into the canon. And as an artist whose work is held in many state and national collections, including the North Carolina Museum of Art, he also probably appreciates his art’s significance, though he appears far too modest to suggest any such thing.

Beyond Huff’s “boom bam” surfaces there resides elaborately constructed elements that deepen each work. There is symbol, transparency, and narrative layered into the paintings and drawings. Look a little closer and there is always more to see.

A perennial muse behind Huff’s work is history and myth. Stories from the past are often woven into the striking realism he so masterfully renders. In his immense drawing, “A Love Supreme,” the strong man standing centered in the frame is Osiris, the mythical Egyptian god of the underworld. Propping him up, standing in perfect balance underneath him, are the many women who helped bring Osiris back to life. The drawing was made using white pencil on black paper. Huff developed highlights instead of shadows, illuminating his fine draftsmanship and his talent for infusing the physical with a visceral emotionalism.

Preparation for Huff is mostly a mental exercise, based on the fact he thinks visually. “Ninety percent of what I do is figured out before I get to a piece of paper,” Huff says. “I think about how I’ll lay it out and about the color. After I see it, I make some changes, but only minor changes.”

In addition to color and layout, Huff’s preparation includes a spiritual component as he aims to create harmony in his compositions. Harmony and its antecedents – symmetry and balance – are key in Huff’s work. “I am attempting to improve the world with my art,” he says. “Harmony is what we need. In my opinion, it’s what it should be about.”

When did you realize you would live a creative life?

I decided that’s what I wanted to do when I was 16. I enjoying doing it and my neighbors asked me to draw a picture of a water pitcher and bowl, like on (the TV show) Bonanza, and they paid me $15. It took three hours to draw. I thought to myself, Boy, I’m on my way.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Usually three ways - something in my head, from someone I see, or a reaction to some situation here or in the world.

What do you do to overcome a creative block?

I don’t have them because I make a living this way. When the rent is due, you get inspired. When I was nineteen I had my last creative block.

Which artists who you most admire?

Right now, Peter Paul Reuben. I like his figures and he promoted other artists. He was a good business person. Michelangelo because he could do so many different things. Juan de Pareja, a slave owned by de Velasquez who painted his way to freedom.

What qualities do you most admire in other artists?

One: a seriousness about what they’re doing. Two: their knowledge. And, third, but not as important, their understanding of business.

What do you think of failure?

To me, I think that when you fail or make a mistake it’s just something to learn from. I think about that Rudyard Kipling poem -.failure isn’t as bad as you think and success isn’t as good as you think. They are both things to learn from, both can make you better.

What would surprise people about you?

Probably that I crack a lot of jokes.