Malik Seneferu: Painter

“Art Magnet” by Tuffgyal808

Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Malik: I was born and raised in San Francisco April 7th 1971 the first of my family to be born outside of the south. My grand mother was allowed to come to the west-coast due to an inheritance from her father John Westley Arnold of the West indies, Jamaica.

Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Malik: Memories of my childhood play a tremendous role in my approach to creating art today. In my early years my mother a single parent lived in fear for my health due to the environmental hazards of San Francisco’s Hunters Point district. I suffered with asthma. Therefore, my innate interest to drawing and painting became that of a marriage over sports modeling my pursuit for constant spiritual mental and physical elevation. Having siblings among others as viewers of my work challenged me to go beyond my limitations. I remember my late grandmother a Barber and tailor sewing for hours at her machine after coming home from work. I would sit at her feet and draw on a paper bag with a pen, marker, crayon or a number two pencil.

Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration?
Malik: Everyday life along with music. Kenya and Haiti are places for instance that influence the bold and dramatic colors in my works. Henry Ossawa Tanner, Aaron Douglas, John T Biggers and Jean-Michel Basquiat (to name a few) has inspired my artistic direction. Being an artist growing up in low-income housing projects, immersed into the start of Hip-Hop, had an immense impact on my ability to create freely. Although this bold life style of music, poetry, art, dance, and intense research today sometimes seems barbaric. It nevertheless has influenced me to be boundless in my creative efforts to deliver messages of empowerment to the indigenous peoples of the world.

Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased?
Malik: X-CLAN “Raise the flag.”

Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Malik: REMAIN CREATIVE