Jerry Weems is a figurative painter who is academically trained but paints in a primitive, naive style. Weems holds a Master Degree in studio arts from California State University, Los Angeles and he is a full time art teacher in the unified LA County School system for 20 years. He studied painting under the venerated Mario Ruede, at Los Angeles Technical College and Dan Douke, at California State University, Los Angeles.

Weems grew up in the rural south during the turbulent years of the Civil rights movement in the 60s. He witnessed first hand the shackling, stifling effect of the unwritten Jim Crow laws that subjected Blacks to humiliation and abuse. His body of work pays tribute to the ”common everyday“ people who were the nameless ones, who stood up for righteousness in the face hatred and violence; for the unsung heroes who refusedto be denied full citizenship in a country that stated in the constitution that ”all men are equal“.

His work incorporates many of the influences and aesthetic forms of the visual artists from the Harlem Renaissance artists like: Palmer Hayden, Earnest Crichlow and William H. Johnson. His academic style of painting can be compared to the work of John Single Sargent and Henry O’Tanner while his primitive, naïve style relies heavily on simplification of forms, dramatic contrast and distortion of perspectives. Weems’ paintings are narratives, painted in black and white, giving his work an antiquated look much like an old black and white photograph. These images tell the story of the African American experience, detailing their joys, worship, education, and the subjugated political system under which they found themselves.