Live & Local: Five Points artist Darrell Anderson — “Streets: Take Five”

This portion of the interview above has been edited for length and clarity:

Steve Chavis: Before we get to your reception next Tuesday at the Blair Caldwell African-American Research Library, we need to catch up on Darrell Anderson. One of your works from years ago is recently getting a little more visibility: It's the portrait of Charles Burrell. If you look up Darrell Anderson and Charles Burrell, it'll pop right up, and you say, Oh yeah, I've seen that. How old is that portrait?

Darrell Anderson: Oh, I think it's about maybe 10 to 15 (years) when I did this, because I was so encouraged about the flavor that he's bringing, or brought, to our community, and it was very important for me to pay tribute to a fabulous individual.

Steve: Did he pose for it, or did you pull it from…

Darrell: No, it was from a series of photographs, and I took from each one and came up with this, with that perspective on the bass, which made it very interesting. I kind of left the cigar out of this one because Charlie loves cigars!

Abi Clark: About this collection. You said that it's very much an homage to jazz and Five Points. You're a lifelong Five Points resident?

Darrell: Born and raised on the Five Points on 2430 Washington Street, a block off the street from the Rossonian.

Carlos Lando: Wow.

Darrell: And so to come back and pay homage to a community that gave me my takeoff point as far as becoming a creative person. It's really wonderful to represent where I came from and come back and, in some degree, of uniting our community again, because I think that's very important, especially for the career that I've had over years, over the years.

Steve: You are not just an artist, but you're also an educator. You've brought a lot of artists under your wing. I remember we did a story with you about 10 years ago, and you were doing some digital art, and we were like, oh, this guy is really pushing the boundaries. He's using electronics, not just the paintbrush and the canvas. That was 10, 15 years ago.

Darrell: Easily. But I think you have to grow with the times, even though I've gotten older and I get kind of set in my ways. But in order for an artist to be successful, you have to adjust the things that surround you and how the world grows around you. So for me, it was always about, and thanks to JC Futrell, who made this happen with risk and change, that that's always been my mantra. I've always been willing to take the risk to see what I can discover. And again, in the process of creating that journey, I get to play with a lot of different mediums.

Carlos: So, when you say creating a journey, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean that you, in this creative process, as you are laying down these different colors, you've conceptualized things in your mind, but now you've got to actually apply yourself and your skillset to whatever it is that you're doing. Is that what you mean by the journey?

Darrell: Exactly. I had an opportunity to meet Misty Copeland, and I sort of bullguarded my way into that whole situation. I did a video of Misty, but in the process of creating this, I had an opportunity to erase because you could do that with my pencil on my iPad. I had an opportunity to add and take away. So I put music to it, and it's about a 4-minute and 35-second video as to where I could teach this to artists to take the journey, because I made a lot of mistakes in doing that sketch until it finally came to the point where it became alive. But it was like discovery and not having any fear about the discovery, but being able to dive into that and then get out of the way, because that's always been my situation in the creative process, Darrell, get out of the way and let it roll. Trust in who you are and make things happen. And for me, it has never been about the economics. It's always been about what's going on inside here, and when that happens, it's amazing how the economics show up.

Steve: So you're not intimidated by a mouse or a stylus or a pad or a canvas. You do it all!

Darrell: I remember my first public art project was putting mosaics on the floor out at DIA. And so that was a three-year process, and I had a collaboration with Barb McKee, and she ended up getting pregnant, moving away, and that was before you had cell phones, so you always had to pay for the long-distance call. But anyway, it was crazy at the time, and I had never done public art before, and they said, well, here's the floor, make some art. And I'm going, what? And I had never done mosaic before, and I had never worked with a budget that was that large. So putting all these pieces together, totally getting out of the way because I'm very spiritual and I heard this little voice say, now listen, I'll be in your front and back pocket, but I got a reason why this is happening for you. It's going to take you places. That's none of your business, but it's going to be greater than what you've ever been able to create in your lifetime.