“AND a mule.” is a surreal representation of a freed slave. The world depicted is saturated, and the horizon extends an uncertain distance, immersing the viewer in a sort of playful cacophony of vibrant colors and shapes. Personally, I think this work is powerful because of its playfulness and humor while addressing a topic seldom represented visually. As a black man in America, I feel like it is important to own real estate, to establish and maintain generational wealth for… generations. It would also be really cool to own a red mule with golden eyes. The work is very inspired by the bucolic imagery of the midwest, the central figure rendered to resemble a marionette or even a scarecrow. This work is truly one of a kind and stands out from the rest of my catalog. The process is multimedia, I drew out the whole scene digitally, on ProCreate, printed the work, colored it with markers, then scanned it back in digitally and edited the colors and lighting.