Demetrius Wilson describes painting as a living exchange—where the canvas responds, shifts, and ultimately becomes something greater than he first imagined.

In this episode, abstract painter Demetrius Wilson reflects on his second solo exhibition at Half Gallery and the evolution of a practice rooted in intuition, movement, and material dialogue. Working at the intersection of environment, memory, and abstraction, Wilson explores how color, scale, and gesture can evoke both personal and collective experience.

But this conversation goes beyond painting.

Here, Demetrius considers what it means to create in a rapidly changing world—tracing how a 1990s upbringing, spiritual inquiry, and a desire to expand visual language all shape his approach to art-making and meaning.

In this episode Demetrius shares:

• His recent exhibition Light in a Dark Mirror and why it represents his strongest body of work to date
• The idea of painting as a “symbiotic” process—where the work responds and evolves in real time
• Growing up on the East Coast in the 1990s and how that era shapes his perspective and process
• His approach to color—using heat, temperature, and contrast to evoke emotional intensity
• His relationship to spirituality and how religious ideas subtly surface in his recent work
• Key artistic influences including Ed Clark, Jack Whitten, Mark Bradford, Cecily Brown, Francis Bacon, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
• How scale shifts perception, from expansive canvases to intimate works on paper

At its core, this conversation is about movement—between control and release, past and present, clarity and ambiguity. Through Demetrius Wilson’s reflections, painting emerges as both a physical act and a philosophical inquiry: a space where memory, environment, and emotion collide, and where abstraction becomes a language for navigating a world that is constantly in flux.

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Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr began creating art from discarded chewing gum wrappers when he was 10 years old.

In this episode, award‑winning animator and visual‑effects artist Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr discusses his latest exhibition, his most ambitious project to date, the groundbreaking show - Futbol is Life: Animated Sportraits on view at the LACMA through mid July 2026. Iconic moments from both women’s and men’s soccer are staged as both spectacle and social record, pairing the “beautiful game” with the political and cultural forces it reflects.

But this isn’t just a conversation about his show at LACMA.

Instead, Lyndon draws parallels between sports and politics, art and life, creative expression and mentorship, and the ways in which history, while sometimes hidden from view, is always present - if one knows where to look.

In this episode Lyndon shares:

• His origins growing up in New Orleans
• How he began using discarded chewing gum wrappers to make art
• Studying at the HBCU, Xavier University of Louisiana then at Cal Arts
• His mentor, John Scott who encouraged him to see his work differently
• The buried histories and inequities in sports
• And how history can be found if one knows where to look

At its core, this conversation considers the relationships and histories that are waiting to be unearthed through visual storytelling and sports as a conduit for cultural conversations.

If you liked the episode, subscribe to our Substack for more highlights and insights about this episode and Lyndon’s practice.

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On this episode, Leo Iheagwam aka Soldier, the London-based painter-sculptor who rose to prominence in the art and skate scene of Lagos, Nigeria and London, discusses his first digital curation, Future Tense presented with myma.art.

Soldier has emerged as one of the strongest voices is shaping the new African creative landscape in recent years. In 2025, Soldier was selected as a finalist for the Arte Laguna prize. The Arte Laguna Prize is one of Italy’s most established international art competitions, recognized for its high-profile jury and global visibility, making a finalist position a respected mark of prestige for emerging artists.

In this episode we discuss Future Tense, a digital exhibition featuring emerging and established artists worldwide, rooted in his interest in speculative futurism and documenting the Black body in the future. He describes discovering MyMa through a friend and valuing its model beyond traditional white-gallery spaces, selecting artists whose personal visions fit the theme from a large application pool.

Soldier outlines his multi-medium practice as symbol-driven “historian” work shaped by growing up in Nigeria, military/war references, and skateboarding as a countercultural catalyst. For Soldier, art provides a space for belonging through a lineage of risk-taking thinkers. He proposes that designing a playable sculpture playground would be a dream collaboration.

Discover Future Tense

Learn more about myma.art

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