Floyd Newsum

Bio

Floyd Newsum, a painter and printmaker with a career spanning four decades, is a Houstonian by way of Memphis, Tennessee. His father was the first African-American firefighter in 1950s Memphis and, as such, Floyd’s formative years were spent in a hotbed of the civil rights movement. After high school, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Memphis Academy of Arts before moving to Philadelphia where he earned a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. In 1978 Newsum moved with his new wife, Janice, to Houston to accept a position with the University of Houston system as Professor of Art.

After a 40 year teaching career at the University of Houston-Downtown, Newsum retired in 2018 to pursue his painting passion full time.  He spends much of his non-painting time as a church deacon at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where he regularly participates in the foot-washing ministry washing the feet of the homeless in downtown Houston. For Floyd, giving back and doing the right thing are paramount. Following Hurricane Katrina, Floyd volunteered in New Orleans with Wheeler to help those in need.

It was this experience that drove Floyd to create two of his most famous paintings: “After The Flood CNN,” one of two Newsum paintings acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, and its companion piece, “More Than A Storm,” which resides in the collection of a Walton family member, founders of Walmart.

A sophisticated artist, he employs a compositional style that generally feels primitive; however, his subject matter centers on cultural climates, political statements, and world events. Much of Newsum’s densely-layered work demonstrates the influence of West African art, especially Newsum’s ongoing interest in the arts of Sirigu, a village in northern Ghana.

His work is often filled with a signature combination of marks and abstract patterns, along with fish, chickens, ladders, and collage elements; scraps of newspaper, found photographs, and magazine clippings. The contrast of his naive style and serious state-of-the-world focus lends a multi-dimensional quality to his work. As Newsum explains, “I want to provoke thought or conjecture from the viewer. My paintings are a collection of thoughts in a single composition, with the power to present more than one interpretation. Blue is my favorite color. I like to be playful, invite the viewer. It’s about having an emotional encounter with color.”

“The birds and the fish are free, they go forward,” he explains. “Ladders represent a second chance, redemption.” They are also highly personal as the ladders are a visual homage to his fire-fighter father.

Newsum’s unique iconography and purposeful mark-making lead the viewer on a visual journey that brings together past, present, and future.  About a 2017 exhibit, Newsum wrote, “The kite series is a symbol of resilience. It is a form that is the equal to the ladder. The kite soars against the sky and is able to confront the turbulence of life. For me, it also suggests a playful form dancing across the visual space. It is my attempt to create the notion of stability in concert with graphic marks arranged in free-flowing gestural rhythm. The usual elements of the chicken, dog, ladder, house, and woman, combined with my whimsical marks are a staple in the compositions.”

Along with his two paintings acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, his work can be seen in many museum collections, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, as well as many prominent private collections.

Floyd Newsum lives and paints in Houston, Texas along with his wife, Janice. They have two children, Arizona and Floyd III, who live in New York and Hong Kong respectively.

Artist CV