GERONE SPRUILL (ALUM)

Born 1973, Oakland, California
Practiced at Creative Growth 1993-2018

An aspiring DJ with an encyclopedic music collection, Gerone Spruill's street-smart graphic sensibility illuminates his work. His prismacolor and ink drawings take the form of extensive, if not epic comic book narratives that chronicle the misadventures of his characters, memorably coifed and infinitely cool, as they cruise Chocolate City in pursuit of rap stardom and other kinds of “satisfaction.” The artist inserts himself into his narratives via various foot-loving aliases: DJ Disco Duck, so named because he sports a yellow-orange duck bill for a nose; Chuckles, the snouted, goateed man-dog; and MC G, a Technics turntable aficionado armed with a mythic Footstranger Gun designed to convert foot-haters into kindred spirits. His heroes are not without divine help in their quest for “satisfaction.” The Prettyfeet Finder, a well-heeled, rosy-cheeked vixen of a muse helps them locate desirable ladies in black penny loafers with black socks who will step on the heroes’ feet “nice and slow.”  Gerone's work occupies a never-never land of eternal youthful optimism, where fantasy and desire are, with a little perseverance, ultimately within reach.