During an opening reception and artist talk for Uncommon Nature: The Abstractions of Freddie Styles, Halima Taha, curator and authority on African American art, sat down with Styles for a multifaceted conversation that touched on a childhood interest in gardening, an early interest in the human form and an extensive exploration of nature through abstract expression.
Styles offered insight into the connection between his artwork and the vicissitudes of life.
The artistic journey of Freddie Styles, who emerged from rural poverty and racial discrimination in Madison, Georgia, to a celebrated career in abstract art, is a testament to his resilience, imagination and the enduring influence of the natural world.
“Freddie Styles stands as a powerful example of how art can emerge from adversity and transform both personal and collective experience,” said Taha.
The works of paper and canvas in the exhibition on display through July 13 at the Arts Program Gallery at University of Maryland (UMGC) headquarters in Adelphi, Maryland, represent 60 years of Styles’ life and experiences as an artist. They showcase his ever-changing creative process and dedication to his craft.
Guest curator Kerry Davis, a multidisciplinary visual artist, has assembled approximately 50 works in a display spanning six decades, offering viewers a retrospective of Styles’s evolution.
An abstractionist for many years now, Styles has long drawn inspiration from nature in his paintings and collages. His childhood experiences fueled his artistic creativity over the years and provided a foundation for his lifelong participation in the visual arts.
“Styles’ experiences working in the family garden, hunting in the lush forest and doing his childhood chores inspired a career of exploration and experimentation,” said Eric Key, director of the Arts Program at UMGC.
Styles’ connection to gardens and nature, represented in his abstract works, is reminiscent of early Impressionist painters who found inspiration in gardens and the natural world, particularly Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919).
“I have this uncanny fascination with nature,” Styles said. “You could explain to me all day why leaves fall off and then next spring how things swell up and thrust through the soil and get reborn but, still, on some level it’s still miraculous to me.”
The retrospective exhibition also explores Styles’ transition from the human form, prominent in his early work from the 1960s, to his lush abstract paintings and collages that are steeped in organic vegetation and his deep ties to nature and emotions.
Woman in a White Dress, emblematic of his early figurative works, was completed in 1968. For Styles, it brings forward a celebration of being African American.
“The white dress is a kind of purity and the images in the background represent the struggles she has overcome,” said Styles. “And here she is in the light, stunning and beautiful.”
Red Leaf, completed in 1981, shows a switch in Styles’ work from figurative to nature-based abstraction, a shift that Styles attributes to his need to move beyond the difficulties of his early family life.
“I purged the figure from my work because I didn't want to illustrate the pain I had experienced, and so I turned to nature to get away from it all,” said Styles.
Also of note is Eddie's Fantasy, a triptych of rich, dark colors and symbolism. Styles completed it in 1986 during the height of the AIDS crisis. The piece evokes deep emotion and is among Styles’ powerful and urgent works addressing mortality, activism and resilience.
Uncommon Nature: The Abstractions of Freddie Styles is on display through July 13, 2025, at the UMGC Arts Program Gallery at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783.
The images of Freddie Styles' works are used in this story by permission of the artist.
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