We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caleb “Note” Davis-Barney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caleb “Note” below.

Caleb “Note”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

For me the art was always something I gravitated towards. Unfortunately, growing up in the environments I did as a youth I wasn’t aware that the arts was an option and didn’t have many opportunities to explore it outside of the home. I can remember I’d always draw, or sing, or dance, or make my own alterations to clothing but I didn’t fully begin to embrace it until the latter years of high school. I started noticing that I couldn’t keep myself away from creative expression and that was the spring board that propelled me to seek higher education on the matter.

Caleb “Note”, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My entry into art was a tumultuous one. I had so much energy and so many ideas as a youth and ignored them until I couldn’t any further. After graduating high school, feeling lost but setting out for college anyway, I noticed a change in myself. The things I once thought I was interested in evaporated and I was left with just the urge to create in whatever ways I could. I was studying film and began taking a particular liking to creative and artistic processes associated with the medium but my lack of maturity and the new environment made this an incredibly difficult experience. I knew film wasn’t what I was after. After a few years I transferred to a small college in Houston and began to explore painting. Right away I felt a passion for the medium, but I found it incredibly hard to conform to the institutional teachings of Art. I was disinterested in painting things exactly how I was instructed to see, despite having such a natural talent for it and instead I turned to what I knew art and culture to be: Hip Hop. I had always had a fascination with lyricism, music, and dancing so naturally painting became the container for them all, even to the dismay of my professors. During my time in undergrad though, the pandemic started and it would actually become the thing that nurtured my growth as an artist. While my cohorts were afraid of stepping into the art studios provided to us, I took it as an opportunity to paint as much as I could. Every day I would drive an hour and a half away and paint until I exhausted myself. I began to get better and better very quickly, and that growth led to a piece entitled ‘a Maya Angelou Poem’ and the invention of style that I called “Negrò Expressionism”. I graduated and pondered what to do with my invention. As Covid subsided I felt I needed to continue this pursuit and that drove me to take a pit stop in Indianapolis, Indiana. There, a new side of my practice began. I started working at the Newfield’s Museum of Art as a gallery attendant, and all I would do during my shifts was draw black and white portraits of the insanity I observed from patrons that paid money just to take selfies to document their presence without actually spending time with the artworks. At this museum I met the love of my life, who would go on to co-found a artist collective with myself and our friend called ‘One Drop’, We began putting on pop up art exhibitions showcasing the work of otherwise unseen artist. That eventually grew to us working with city officials in Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Columbus, Indiana respectively, to put these shows on and stimulate the local economy, but I knew my journey into the arts didn’t stop there. In what I feel is a full circle moment, I was accepted in Pratt Institute’s MFA program to concentrate on painting and drawing and further my craft. Somehow I stumbled on an opportunity to create a business surrounding what I love and a way to further develop my own artistic practice. In November of 2021 I moved to Brooklyn, and began taking on that challenge. There I was met with a similar problem from my first two stops in college but this time my focus and determination were not to be thwarted. Continuing on with the “Negrò Expressionsim” paintings I had created before and the drawings I began creating while in Indianapolis, I knew my mission was to combine them, allowing an otherwise over looked culture to be thrust into the realm of the fine arts. My mission was to force people to talk about Wu Tang Klan and Picasso in the same conversation. During this process I was fortunate enough to be showcased in an Indianapolis fine art fair called Butter, where my work from the previous years was selected and met with great reception, as they all sold. After two years of development, via critiques, debates and arguments with other exceptional artists, and growth with my artist collective One Drop, which featured our biggest show to date entitled “Underground” I presented my thesis work: ‘An Afro Viaje Home’ as apart of Pratt MFA’s 2023 thesis show, which combines my experiences as a black and latino man, the lineage of Hip Hop, and the pedagogy of Afro Surrealism into a 8 piece show that featured works on cardboard, wood, and a collection of poems and raps.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal behind my work is to be a voice for the voiceless. Growing up interacting with people from the inner city, mostly black and brown, I understand the turmoil they’re subjected to and I understand the lack of representation we get in spaces of higher education like the fine arts. My mission is to continue breaking that barrier like so many before me have, and to provide opportunities for people to excel far beyond what I’ve been able to achieve. I look at my nieces and nephews and realize the impact I’ve had on them by living in that truth, and if my hard work means creating platforms for the next generation to excel in not only the arts, but in life then that is something I will always be passionate about.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my opinion ecosystems can not be sustained without the arts. It’s the one thing that not only drives culture forward, from both a economic and philosophical standpoint, but it allows people to retain a spiritual connection with who they are at their core. In so many industries artist are used and borrowed from for the advancement of others, and it is time for artist to resume their place in society. More emphasis should be placed in schools about them as opposed to forcing children to assimilate to the assembly line that is the workforce. More funding should be given to support artistic endeavors for children in the inner cities. In a society than spews false truths like children are the future, we should make a more considered effort to allow them to develop their genius and give them the opportunity to lead as opposed to holding on to old regimes that detour the progression of human development, or steer it on a mechanical path. How we go about this I am not sure, but artist at the very least should be able to consult with the people making these decisions, as were the ones who actually dedicate our lives to being the conscious observers of our world beyond the foundations of the book.

Contact Info:

• Website: notesgallo.com / onedrop.world
• Instagram: @notedavis / @notes.gallo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebdavis-barney/