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    Local Artist Spotlight: Freddie Crocheron Celebrates A “New Day”

    The visual artist’s latest exhibit shows a bright vision for the future.

    Visual artist Freddie Crocheron’s exhibit “New Day,” lit up the late days of summer in Maroon Arts Group’s MPACC Boxpark, a vibrant collection of prints with cartoon flare. The title’s theme of renewal can be felt through the bold colors and the ecstatic characters of each piece. The prints’ comical expressions evoke the cartoons of Crocheron’s childhood, which first inspired him to draw.

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    “The only thing that could catch my attention was cartoons,” Crocheron said. “I started drawing when I was in the first grade. I would come home, turn on cartoon network, and draw.”

    His classmates would soon recognize him for his sketches, and his hobby became an important practice outside of school. 

    As a community service requirement for school, Crocheron began volunteering at the Kennedy Heights Art Center helping run arts classes for youth in his hometown of Cincinnati. There, he met local artist Cedric Michael Cox, a prominent muralist in the city as well as a painter featured in art galleries nationwide. 

    “I never really met anyone as outspoken as an artist as he was,” Crocheron said.

    As he completed high school, Cox would mentor Crocheron, helping him prepare his portfolio and application to the Columbus College of Art and Design. 

    “Diamonds might shine like skittles” (left) — “Tyler the Creator” (right) – Artwork by Freddie Crocheron.

    In 2014, Crocheron enrolled at the Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) with a major in animation, still pursuing his interest in cartoons. After a year, he realized though his art style was based on animations, what he truly had a passion for was illustration. After graduating, Crocheron stayed in Columbus and began working as a freelance artist.

    “When I was in college that was a time when a lot of artists were realizing that the internet was their friend,” Crocheron said. “And so a lot of my work ended up living digitally, on Instagram or other websites.”

    But while his art lived online, he began familiarizing himself with the local arts community, living and helping curate at the Skylab gallery downtown. 

    “Being in that environment where you’re having to hang work and put on shows, you’re in the mix of the arts community.” Crocheron said about the experience. “I moved out of Skylab in 2021. And I feel like I was just so used to being involved in the arts community that I started trying to figure out different ways to participate with it.” 

    Crocheron chanced upon an opportunity to re-engage with the Columbus arts community when he met Marshall Shorts, founder of the Maroon Arts Group.

    “He caught me doodling in a sketchbook,” Crocheron said. “And he was just like ‘have you ever shown work at my gallery?’” 

    The pieces collected in “New Day” showcase Crocheron’s style in the vivid colors he uses and the designer flashiness of his characters. Figures in his prints sport diamond rings and necklaces, Air Jordans and gold-plated grins. Crocheron captures these stunning characters in moments of intense expression, whether snickering in miserly delight (“Diamonds might shine like skittles”) or making conspiratorial eye contact (“My brother’s crown”). 

    Crocheron credits the stylized dress of his characters to contemporary streetwear and hip hop culture, and by including it in his artworks he aims to reach out to a young Black audience. A streetwear fan himself — growing up alongside a shoe-collecting older brother — Crocheron hopes the shared interest can be a way to build community through his artwork.

    “Maybe I’m the person that you come to because it’s like, I’m making things that look like you or maybe they look like things that you love,” he stated.

    These ecstatic images also testify to his experience during lockdown, when he broke the monotony by trying to capture in art his fleeting moments of joy.

    “Mentally and financially, I just went through a tough time, like most people did,” Crocheron said. “And I feel like my way of dealing with it was to just slowly create these little glimpses of things that made me feel really good, really happy.” 

    This joy compounded through the exhibit’s run at the MPACC Boxpark throughout the month of August. By greeting people, talking to buyers, and taking feedback, he was able to re-engage with the local arts community he felt estranged from in the early days of the pandemic.

    “It was awesome to see everybody that came out,” Crocheron said. “I’ve made it a goal to do local things and just try to meet and establish myself with people that are in the community that I’ve always seen or heard of, but haven’t had the opportunity to meet or interact with.”

    As far as what comes next for Crocheron, his schedule is staying plenty busy through the rest of the year. He now serves as both a board member at ROY G BIV Gallery in Franklinton, as well as the head of programming.

    “On November 11th I curated and led my first showcase called ‘Stacked’,” said Crocheron. “Over 30 artists from the community received blank banker’s boxes and were tasked with transforming them into art pieces. Erik Nass — the current president at ROY — and myself took these works of art and directed how they would be presented. The showcase will be on display until Friday December 2nd.”

    Crocheron is also participating in the CCAD Art Fair & Marketplace on Saturday, December 3rd, and continuing to work on freelance projects from his home studio in Grandview — ranging from murals to children’s books to album covers to t-shirt graphics and beyond.

    For more info, visit fredshop.bigcartel.com.

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    Tomas Pacheco
    Tomas Pachecohttps://www.columbusunderground.com/
    Bio: Tomás Miriti Pacheco is a poet and journalist from Columbus, Ohio, and a freelance writer for the Arts section of Columbus Underground. He is currently completing a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Chicago. He enjoys music, basketball, smoothies and barbecue.
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