From the Artist
It's the magic that does the painting, and the magic is within. I can't see having substance without having magic in the painting. I use hands, fingers, I'll use anything at that point, it depends. The year, the time, or what's near me. I believe sometimes you use the thing nearest if it's possible. The nearest thing you can use for any utensil, you can finish it off with a brush, anything you want to use. The main thing is to get that idea over quickly. Because that feeling, that thought is a very short thought.As an artist it doesn't last a long time. If you can get it down right away, work with it technically later on. For example, you see a form...should I...shouldn't I...PUT IT DOWN!Then technically, if it doesn't fit or you didn't do it right, you can work with it. But that feeling, that idea, that spiritual thing, you just put it down right then!
—Excerpted fromhttp://www.herbertgentry.com/AboutHerb.php, accessed 8-13-2021
Herbert Gentry mixed worldwide inspirations with African American experience to create colorful expressionist paintings of people and faces.“Harlem prepared me for Paris,” Gentry said, referring to his youth during the Harlem Renaissance. Herb Gentry went to Paris for art school after serving in the military during WWII and found himself in the center of the expatriate American society in Montparnasse. In 1959, Gentry relocated to Scandinavia, although he maintained a studio in Paris. He returned to New York in 1969 and moved at the fabled Chelsea Hotel. Herbert Gentry was at home on both continents, painting and exhibiting his work on both sides of the Atlantic. His work may be found in a number of prestigious national and international museum collections.
—Adapted fromhttp://www.herbertgentry.com/ accessed 8-13-2021
