Today we’d like to introduce you to Antoine Manning.
Antoine, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My life started on February 24th, 1999 in the Bronx, New York. My parents are two loving Jamaican natives who immigrated to the states to provide the best life they possibly could. As time progressed, I migrated to Covington, Georgia with my father and siblings. However, my story starts in 2014 with the murder of my father. I would say that my story started then because that’s when I truly realized what I wanted to do. His death caused me to grow immensely and it also brought me to a low that I have never felt prior to his death. In response to losing my father, in the fall of 2014, I began to paint because it became my passion and it helped me cope/express myself and my pain. I then began to write and that lead me into creating Homage Year, a clothing brand for social awareness and about the fragility of mankind in 2015. I then began modeling in the fall of 2017. I would describe my story as a testament to what God can and will do within your life if you trust and put your faith in him as well as if you stay focused on your vision.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The art is very symbolic of the situations that I have encountered in my life. My work explores situations such as my fathers passing, failed love, being doubted as well as support, true love and understanding. It is also about God and his grace within my life. Typically when it comes to creating something I will usually paint, while writing poetry and/or designing for Homage Year is my secondary form of creating if I’m not seen a painting or drafting a painting. I create because that’s all I know how to do and that’s all that has been (physically) consistent within my life up to this point. People are constantly changing, whether it be negatively or positively, but the art will always be there.
The message of the work is basically the same message that I try to push within my interpersonal relationships. Those messages include perseverance, following your dreams, maintaining faith within God and yourself. The reoccurring themes behind the work include black empowerment, self-love/self-worth, and humanity/all the emotions and feelings that come with humanity.
Inspirations would include my visual peers (Emmanuel Rivas aka. Nomadic Manny, Watchtower, Hoff, Fifth, Katertot, NaturalShambe, Legtorn, Chinedu Nwakudu and so on), artists I grew up looking up to and those that I have iconized (Chilly-O, Gerald Lovell, Reginald Sylvester II, Monica Hernandez &, etc.).
The stereotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
My advice to those who are struggling to focus on their work due to the trouble with finances would be to come up with a business plan which would have all the details of everything you need to get started. Within the business plan figure out prices, figure out how much money it would take to get something done and how much you are possibly looking at profit wise. After you get that, I would recommend you looking for someone who is willing to invest in you or to take out a loan if that is not an option. As an artist, I know for a fact that working with $400 or less is practically nothing if your dream is big. Go big or go home as they say.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Some of my work is currently displayed on my Instagram page (whenever I choose to post work), My writing is also usually displayed on my Instagram in the form of captions. I am currently working on my first solo exhibition. If anyone would like to buy or commission a piece, they could either dm or email me (the email link is right under my Instagram bio). However, clothing is displayed on the @homageyear Instagram page.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 678-508-4686
- Email: manningantoine@hotmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manningantoine/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/homageyear
Image Credit:
@chillyolovesyou (camo photo), @dumoarles (angel wings and robe photo), @_gracerivera (side profile)
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