Artist Statement

Cotton and U.S. Currency: According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, US paper currency is made up of 75% cotton and 25% linen. That is, there are three-fourths of a pound of cotton in each pound of dollar bills.

I am inspired to create artwork based on the familiar objects that I view through my daily travels. Much of my art has focused on issues like institutionalized racism and classism, jarring stereotypes, and displacement of people of color.

Bio

Mr. Dennis RedMoon Darkeem is Bronx-born and raised. He is of Yamassee Creek-Seminole Native American and African American descent. Dennis has been an Artist and Art educator for over 10 years working in the DOE, Private and Charter schools in the South Bronx and Harlem. He received his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts and his Master’s in Art Direction from Pratt Institute.

Over the years, he’s been an Artist in Residence with many art organizations like Wave Hill, the Laundromat Project, The Point, Bronx Children’s Museum, I.C.P, and Jamaica Arts Center. Dennis has exhibited his work at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Brooklyn Museum of the Arts, La Mama Theater, The MoMA, Bronx Art Space, Rush Gallery, The Judaic Museum of Art, and Smack Mellon, and has received fellowships and scholarships from the NYSFA, NYC Teachers Foundation, Mark Rothko scholarship, and Price Waterhouse Fellowship award.