The Art of Karen Y Buster

The Art of KAREN Y. BUSTER

The Art of KAREN Y. BUSTER

T H E N OY ES A RTS G A R AG E MUSEUM STO CK TON UN I V ERSI T Y B L A C K H I S T O R Y M O N T H F E B R U A R Y- M A R C H 2 0 21

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CUR ATOR’S STAT EMEN T

aren Y. Buster - Dreaming in Black & White. This is primarily a story about a woman and her art, but additionally it is about how a vision can move through an artist and connect to space, time, and place. At an early age Karen Y. Buster became captivated by the interplay between positive and negative space. This seemingly small fascination was activated by her attraction to photography and negatives. The attraction seeped into her dreams, and before long Karen was dreaming in black and white. She actually experienced her dreams in the way one would look at a negative from the lost days of film photography. And thus, the journey began.

A negative is a photographic image that reproduces the bright portions of the photographed subject as dark, and the dark parts as light areas. Film negatives are the original source of the photograph. Saving the original negatives will always give you the possibility to replace what has been lost. A silk screen process on wearable art was the initial step in Karen Buster’s creative journey. Each time she used a mesh to transfer ink to a substrate, she worked in field of dark in juxtaposition to light, just like an original negative.

Traditionally, the process was called screen printing or silkscreen printing because silk was used in the process. It is also known as serigraphy,

and continued that play between light and dark like a photographic negative. Negatives are usually formed on a transparent material, such as plastic or glass. Over time, Karen mastered a unique cutting technique using the blade of a precision knife, and the photographic negative appeared once again in fresh and innovative arrangement.

Images and artwork began to come to life through Buster’s use of a surgeon’s knife as a brush, and a film sheet as a blank canvas. The stark and beautiful contrast of black and white can be seen in her stylized pieces like “Senegal Woman”, “Kibibi”, “Barack”, “Just Chillin”, “Jester Noir”, “Tu-Tu”, and “Wynton Remastered”, just to name a few.

Karen Y. Buster continues to evolve.

Sculptural pieces now reveal her ongoing evolution of dreaming in black and white, and steel has become the latest blank canvas. Those that would, can see butterflies in piece entitled, “Butterflies in Steel” and see dancing girls in the piece entitled, “& Lift…& Reach”, because they too, play in the space, time and place that is held by dark and light. The artwork of Karen Y. Buster is quite innovative and captivating. It captures and shares her journeys, her contemplations, and her interests.

Kibibi Ajanku, MFA Curator

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A RT IST ’S STAT EMEN T

am honored to be the featured artist for “The Linx Incorporated”, 52nd Annual Black Art Show 2021. This exhibition has given me a platform to expose another style of creativity.

Being an artist of color, I wanted to contribute to the education of minority youth in the arts.

As a child, I was fascinated with looking at negatives on a film strip.

From early childhood, I believe I developed the eye of a photographer, without the camera. In my artwork you will see a different prospective of how negative and positive spaces interact.

As you follow the geometrical shapes and patterns of my artwork, you will find a common theme. Allow your eye to travel and look at the sharp edges, drawn by a precision knife. That theme speaks to how I developed my style of creating using those spaces. My work has been described as irregular, eccentric, different, unusual and unconventional. I will continue to look at everyday images in this unorthodox way.

Art has allowed me to speak my feelings that can’t always be said though words. I hope I can inspire young people to know that art has a voice.

-Karen Y. Buster

T

he Arts Facet. Throughout the nation today, Links chapters partner with museums, symphonies, arts councils, educational institutes and corporations in order to support art programs, especially where there is a focus on artists of color.

Links are creating and supporting opportunities for educating minority youth in the arts and presenting and supportinerformances by youth and accomplished professional artists in a diversity of disciplines.

The goal of The Arts Facet is to produce and support programs to enrich the quality of life of our youth and communities through educational and engaging art experiences while “Transforming Communities, Fulfilling Our Purpose.”

Our programming includes arts integration within our chapters and partnerships with like-minded organizations, sowing the seed of creativity deeper in our community.

Just Chilling Mixed Media on Canvas 24" x 36" 2018

Legacy Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2018

Barack Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2008

& Lift...& Reach Stainless Steel 24" x 16" x 6" 2019

Butterflies Stainless steel 24" x 16" x 6" 2019

Jabari Soul Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2019

Yes We Can Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2016

Shedrick & Me Mixed Media on Canvas 24" x 36" 2018

Up The Fret Board Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2020

Senegal Woman #2 Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2015

Wynton Remastered Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2020

Kibibi Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2016

Marsalis III Mixed Media on Canvas 24" x 36" 2019

Jester Noir Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2016

Prince Remastered Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2016

How Daddy, Actually Got Mommy Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2018

Senegal Woman #3 Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2015

The Trinity Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2019

Senegal Woman #2 Mixed Media on Canvas 36" x 24" 2015

Tu-Tu Mixed Media on Canvas 24" x 36" 2016

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BIOGR A PH Y

altimore, Maryland native Karen Y. Buster was reared in a private artist colony - her childhood home. How else do you describe an atmosphere with a designer-mother, a dancersister, another sister, a wordsmithpoet and an artist brother? The only one in her immediate family to be a career artist, Karen is blessed to have grown up in a household that encouraged creativity and recognized the source of her art, which is a gift from a higher power. Her mother told her as a child she was gifted and different. More importantly, Karen believed it too.

Original Karen Y. Buster’s are in the private celebrity collections of Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington, Cheryl Lee Ralph, Toni Braxton, Jada Pickett Smith, and Charles Dutton among a host of others. Her prints also call the walls of the Beverly Hills and Philadelphia Chambers of Commerce, respectively, home.

Among her awards, Karen is the recipient of Baltimore’s own “Unsung” Art Exhibition 2014 Female Artist of the Year, The National Coalition of the 100 Black Women’s Arts and Culture Award, 2007 and the 2002 recipient of the Black Heritage Visual Arts Association’s “Favorite Emerging Artist” Karen is also a proud member of Delta SigmaTheta Sorority, Incorporated since 1978.

Karen’s journey to the world of fine arts came via

her t-shirt design business, Bustertizin. She doesn’t take her transition from t-shirts to 35 plus-years creating fine art originals and prints for granted.

Karen hears testimonials from her collectors about how her art speaks to them and brings solace to their personal situations such as overcoming illness, recovery from drug abuse, and finding peace after the death of a loved one. Her eyes have been trained since age five to distinguish between positive and negative space thanks to her attraction to photography negatives and dreaming in black and white. These key components hold significance in Buster’s art and are the inspiration for her signature black and white X-acto® Knife cut-outs. The introduction of color in her signature cut-outs came via a dream based on a New Orleans jazz club scene. Karen’s grandmother always said “when you dream, its God that’s talking to you”. Speaking of New Orleans, the movement in Karen’s work can be traced to her decade-long residency (1977-1987) in that jazz city where she studied and graduated from Dillard University. Karen believes the music and sexy, seductive nature of New Orleans seeps into and inspires her art. Baltimore is where Karen was born, raised, creates and calls home.

“Art is not what I see...but what I make others see”- Karen Y. Buster

This exhibition was sponsored by The Links Incorporated & The Noyes Arts Garage Stockton University.

Special Thanks to Micheal Cango, Sonya G. Harris, & Lynda V. Browne-Kidd