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His palette is a bountiful mixture of urban american realism, warrior queens, the five elements of hip-hop, Native American mysticism, and a dash of existentialism. It’s an explosive visual punch, that manages to ignite your imagination, while creating a new arts mythology, that is culturally inclusive, rather than exclusive.
Like all great talents, Okamura creates what is not traditionally seen, and challenges the viewer to be receptive to a new way of thinking. Not an easy task, when you’re producing work about race, culture, gender and class, in contemporary art. The challenge becomes even greater when your subjects are represented as being proud and very much present, instead of as marginalized victims. Okamura and a few other painters are bringing some much needed heat, into the ice cold art world.
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