We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful D. Marcell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with D. below.

D., appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Naming my price. I wrestled a lot giving my creativity a worth. Like to the point it gave me anxiety. Materials aside, what is my creativity, or creativity in general, worth? For the longest time, I’d just give my paintings away just because I couldn’t assign a value to them. Obviously that’ll only get you so far. It was one of my best friends – who is a collector himself – who kept telling me to never doubt my creative worth. It was hard for me to really become confident about that starting off. Fast forward a bit and we see folks are now paying millions for NFTs…that’s healed me of any creative worth issues. Actually, come to think about it, I may need to reevaluate my creative worth. MILLIONS…like super plural too, for NFT’s…nuts.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m D. Marcell, I’m an artist. I’ve always had an urge to create things since I was a child. I started getting into oil paints and kind of found a love.

I’m proud of my progression. My wife is really starting to dig my stuff. Which is saying something let me tell you!

I believe that the art we’re currently creating will be our hieroglyphics so I put that type of energy in my pieces. Communication through art can be such a subconscious thing.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

MILLIONS… plural! Seriously though, I think that the idea of art royalties needs to be addressed for fine art for sure. I don’t think NFTs – which I believe were created to help with that initially – did anything but create a platform where folks buy and sell a bunch of bored apes that ultimately look the same. Honestly, I’d rather invest in a real piece of art.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

So, I have this thing… I HATE bare walls. Hate it! Especially if you own the house. Like, put up an old fish picture up or something. Put a picture of a picture of a blank wall up at least.

All jokes aside, art represents our society in so many ways. It makes me think of the 60s. You had the Vietnam War, lynchings, riots, assassinations. Like, shit hit the fan on the civil side. If you look at the art around the same time, you can almost feel the same tension in it. Its was almost like society was having this collective, ‘who the fuck am I?’ crisis. I think, just like in the 60’s, today’s art and art audience showcases what we’re going through in the same way.

We’ve all just lived through the craziest two and a half years globally maybe ever. Lost people that we never thought we would, etc. Add to that the fact that we’re STILL dealing with some of the same civil issues from the 60’s. Listen, I paint predominantly black faces in a predominantly white state and have been told if I painted more “neutral” colored figures I’d be more successful.
So, one of the more rewarding aspects for me is when a person purchases a painting of mine that doesn’t look like me. To me, that shows true progression. Unlike the 60’s, we as black artist are becoming more openly supported by non blacks. It feels like society is realizing it needs more color. I’m glad to be a part of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: dmarcellart.com
• Instagram: dmarcellart