The Deputy, 16″ x 20″ oil on linen canvas, framed by the artist.

The Deputy depicts a strong individual from South Carolina’s past. Or perhaps a determined and decidedly dark individual out for vengeance. It’s up to the viewer to decide. As an artist, I am drawn to what is emotional and evocative, what is interesting to paint. I leave it to the viewer to provide the meaning. This was begun as a paint along lesson with a private student and developed later.

The Deputy came about a couple years after the filming of Emanuel, when fellow actor Kyle and I played members of a posy, re-enacting the capture of Denmark Vessey in the early 1800s on Capers Island, SC. We were part of the making of this beautiful and moving film, a docudrama about the Emanuel Nine and their survivors at the Emanuel Church shooting in 2015.