Playing with Lives (First Responder)
Watercolor on Arches paper, 2020
Signed with the artist's initials lower right
Signed with the artist's embossed "Yummy" blindstamp lower right
One of several works with a Covid inspired composition.
A masterpiece of American watercolor.
Condition: Excellent
Archival framing with OP3 Acrylic
Image size: 26 1/16 x 19 1/8 inches
“First Responder” is a piece that celebrates the hard working doctors and nurses that are working around the clock, risking their lives for others. My daughter dresses up in her doctor custom everyday. Doc McStuffins is her favorite cartoon to watch, she carries her doctor kit, wears her stethoscope and keeps a box of bandaids handy for quick repairs. She doesn’t know it but her presence alone has saved me countless times already.She represents the hope, selflessness, and love for other that our first responders show everyday.
Darius Steward Biography
Darius Steward is establishing himself as a master of the medium of watercolor and large public murals. In 2018, Steward created two large public murals, “Breaker of Chains”, a 200’ by 6’ in height mural for the Midtown Cleveland/Cleveland State University and “Support” on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. A new mural “Waiting Room” has been finished at SUMMA Health Care Tower, Akron, Ohio. Darius is currently working on a public sculpture commission for the Cleveland Public Library.
Stewards works are in the permanent collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Davis Art Museum at Wellesley College, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art (Richmond), Eskenazi Museum of Art (Indiana University), Stanley Museum of Art (University of Iowa),Swope Art Museum (Terre Haute), University of Delaware Museum, Akron Art Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Art NEO, CARTA, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Summa Health Art Collection, Metro Health Hospital Collection, the Federal Reserve Bank, Cleveland, Art Collection, Rocket Loans Arena (Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA), the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art and most recently the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
In addition, Stewards works are in private collections from California to New York to Canada.
Steward is the recipient of the The 2018 Emerging Artist Award of the Cleveland Arts Prize.
A painting by Steward was chosen by Michele Grabner, Curator for the juried Front International Triennial, “The Great Lakes Research”, Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery, July 21st - August 4th, 2018
Stewards first solo museum exhibition, Our Separated Selves, closed in 2018 at the Canton Museum of Art. The artist’s second one person museum exhibition Occupying A Space, opened at the Swope Art Museum opened on January 18 and closed on March 3, 2019. This major exhibition was displayed in three galleries and exhibited 54 works on paper.
Ms. Kaywin Feldman, then Director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, wrote the following commentary regarding a donation of Darius’s work.
“As you well know, Steward uses his extraordinary skill as a watercolorist to add interest and drama to quotidian life. His vivid colors and unusual, eye-catching compositions will make his work a compelling presence in the museum’s galleries. I am particularly excited that this is the first work by Steward to enter Mia’s collection.”
Ms. Feldman assumed her new position as Director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, on March 11, 2019.
In 2021, Darius was commissioned to created a series of sculptures for the Cleveland Public Library Eastman Reading Garden in downtown Cleveland. This marks the artist’s first public sculpture project and a new direction for this creative output.
