By Hailey Stangebye

Photos courtesy of Richard Duarte Brown

A young woman looked down at her son drawing and told him, “Don’t be an artist, you can’t make a living like that.” It wasn’t spoken with malice. If anything, she spoke out of love. She knew how hard it could be to survive in the arts, and she wanted the best life for him.

But Richard Duarte Brown was unphased.

That’s because Duarte knows that wherever he works — be it as a janitor or as professional painter — he is an artist. Pursuing any other path is unthinkable.

“At 6 years old, I found an encyclopedia with Picasso’s ‘Blue’ period work,” Duarte says. “I think, for me, visual language is the way I respond to life. I read so much into images and visual language and I understood that as my way of communicating and answering questions.”

“At 6 years old, I found an encyclopedia with Picasso’s ‘Blue’ period work. I think, for me, visual language is the way I respond to life. I read so much into images and visual language and I understood that as my way of communicating and answering questions.“

As a child, Duarte was resourceful. He used the materials in his environment to make art — things like shoe polish and chicken bones. At the time, he didn’t even realize that he was creating mixed-medium work. He just knew that he could create with everything in his surroundings.

At the age of 13, he came to Columbus to pursue art so he could “get rich and buy happiness.” Though he was young, he was an independent kid that was essentially on his own.

“I wanted to help my mom and my family,” Duarte says. “It was a noble dream. And it’s still part of a dream. That family has just expanded to the kids that I work with. Not in a cliche way, though. When I make art, it’s the same as when you have a family meal or when you set a table. It’s an experience. The relationship goes far beyond that thing and it carries you through your life.”

“I wanted to help my mom and my family. It was a noble dream. And it’s still part of a dream. That family has just expanded to the kids that I work with. Not in a cliche way, though. When I make art, it’s the same as when you have a family meal or when you set a table. It’s an experience. The relationship goes far beyond that thing and it carries you through your life.“

Today, Duarte is a master artist with the Transit Arts program, where he teaches visual arts to students across Columbus.

“We provide opportunities for kids to have professional experiences with the arts,” Duarte says. “It builds these relationships and helps people discover a natural talent, like you would in your family. Except that you won’t hear me saying, ‘Don’t be an artist. You’ll never make money.’”

“We provide opportunities for kids to have professional experiences with the arts. It builds these relationships and helps people discover a natural talent, like you would in your family. Except that you won’t hear me saying, ‘Don’t be an artist. You’ll never make money.’“

Instead, Duarte provides his mentees with the connections and the resources to make a seemingly impossible dream become a reality.

One of the challenges Duarte faced trying to establish himself in Columbus at a young age was finding a group of people to act as that support system. He also had to learn, on his own, how to mediate the inevitable periods or rejection that are inherent as an artist.

“The constant rejection of grants and proposals, that’s a challenge. You can’t put yourself in a place of ‘failure’ when your work is just not accepted or you’re not fit for a project or a curated show,” Duarte says. “That’s a challenge. Knowing how to market yourself, even as an artist of color to a market that looks for things that sell the right way.”

“The constant rejection of grants and proposals, that’s a challenge. You can’t put yourself in a place of ‘failure’ when your work is just not accepted or you’re not fit for a project or a curated show. That’s a challenge. Knowing how to market yourself, even as an artist of color to a market that looks for things that sell the right way.“

Despite facing this adversity, Duarte continues to create art and to help the young people in his community pursue art. That’s because — despite what some people might say — there are opportunities to be an artist right here at home.

“You don’t literally have to go to New York to be an artist at this stage of the game. New York will come to us. Or other cities will come see what’s going on in Columbus,” Duarte says. “There’s a lot of people doing really good things here. They have a dream, and I want to see that expand even more.”

Duarte is a part of the Short North Mural Series. His piece, Fleaux Child, is at 1359 N. High Street.

Duarte’s Work