Moe Brooker

Background

Brooker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Tyler School of Art, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1970 and an Master of Fine Arts in 1972.

Career

Working in painting and fabrics, Brooker employs bright colors such as "saturated pinks, mellow yellows and lime greens (that) are feasts for the eyes," as well as stripes and checked patterns. He has been on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Parsons School of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Moore College of Art and Design. Brooker works on canvas and paper, using acrylics as a base coat and mixing oils, oil stick and encaustic.

He has been influenced by both graffiti art and music, and has moved from semi-figurative art to abstract art

He credits abstractionist Wassily Kandinsky"s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912) as an influence on his work. One of the reasons why Brooker moved to abstraction was that he wanted to paint the joyous and spiritual aspects of African-American life, but could not find figurative symbols for doing southern

"If you are given a gift, using that gift in its fullest sense is true worship." His work is displayed at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Montgomery Museum of Art, the Musée des beaux-arts de l"Ontario, and the Philadelphia Museum of Artist He is represented by The Sande Webster Gallery in Philadelphia and the June Kelly Gallery in New York City.

Achievements

• Moe Brooker has received a number of awards and honors. These include: 2011, Honored by The African American Museum in Philadelphia at 35th Anniversary Celebration 2010, Artist of the Year Award, Governor"s Awards for the Arts, Governor Edward G. Rendell of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 2010, Artists Equity Award 2009, Medal of Achievement, The Philadelphia Art Alliance 2003, James Van Der Zee Lifetime Achievement Award, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1985, Cleveland Arts Prize for Visual Arts, Cleveland, Ohio.

Membership

He is a member of Recherche, an African-American artists group whose works are known for "active engagement with life and a zestful manipulation of color and pattern.".