Khalif Tahir Thompson

Khalif Tahir Thompson was born, lives and works in New York City, USA. He graduated in Painting and Drawing from SUNY Purchase College in New York. The artist’s practice is focused on portraiture and figuration with subjects including family, friends, and cultural figures placed in constructed settings. He works with oil paint, incorporating mixed media, collage, and handmade paper to build the abstracted environments in which the characters exist. Khalif Tahir Thompson believes painting can be a tool in considering the emotional, psychological complexity of an individual’s story and identity. He creates imagery that connects one to the realm of another, through altering perception and invoking empathy towards his subjects, he depicts their reality across a visceral lens. The artist was included in exhibitions and collections as The Grant Hill Collection, Orlando, Florida, USA (2021);  “BUTTER” Fine Art Fair, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (2021);  HMAAC – Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, Texas, USA (2021); The Columbus Museum of Art – Permanent Collection, Columbus, Ohio, USA (2020); 20/20 Gallery, New York, New York, USA (2019) among others. Khalif Tahir Thompson recently received the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Painting (2021);  Culture Push, Associated Artist (2020); Abrons Arts Center Black and Indigenous Artists Fund (2020) and Brooklyn Arts Council (BAF) Recipient (2020).