Squirewell got his start in Washington D.C., but it wasn’t smooth, and like many young men with not enough to do, he thought about getting in trouble and following the wrong crowd. He was lucky to find roadblocks at every wrong turn, all directing him back to the right path, back to his paintbrush.
Being a successful artist feels like a distant dream to many Black artists. Even Squirewell had no idea where he wanted his work to go until he took a rude comment by a teacher as a challenge. He met that challenge and has exceeded it and many others, showing several times at Miami’s Art Basel, winning the Bombay Sapphire Artisan series prize in 2013, then sending work this year to Art Basel where the pieces were sold before they were hung on the walls.
LEO stopped by Squirewell’s studio and did our first in-person studio visit. We talked to Squirewell about his work, his first recognition of being a minority and being able to create well and eat well.
December 15, 2021
