THE ARMOR WE WEAR: Alfred Conteh’s Pat and Lil Pat
THE ARMOR WE WEAR
Alfred Conteh’s Pat and Lil Pat
Curatorial Rationale for Acquisition
High Museum of Art | Contemporary Art Collections
Alfred Conteh’s Pat and Lil Pat offers a compelling exploration of Black identity, psychological vulnerability, and the relationship between public presentation and private experience. Rooted in Conteh’s sustained examination of Black life in Atlanta and the American South, the painting addresses the emotional negotiations required to navigate a society shaped by racialized expectations. Through his distinctive approach to figurative painting, Conteh transforms an intimate portrait into a broader meditation on identity, self-preservation, and the human condition.
The Artist’s Intent: Armor and Vulnerability
In a recent conversation with Black Art In America, Alfred Conteh offered important insight into the psychological relationship between the two figures depicted in Pat and Lil Pat.
According to Conteh, the figure dressed in black, standing with arms crossed, represents the guarded exterior that Black people often feel compelled to maintain as they navigate the world. The posture communicates strength, vigilance, and emotional protection—a form of armor developed through the necessity of being constantly prepared for whatever circumstances may arise.
In contrast, Lil Pat represents the person within: the unguarded, relaxed, and vulnerable self known intimately by family, trusted friends, and those permitted to experience a more emotionally accessible side of his identity. Together, the figures represent two dimensions of the same person—the public self and the private self, protection and vulnerability.
Conteh's perspective is informed not simply by observation but by personal encounters with the assumptions and social pressures his paintings examine. Discussing his 2022 work Daishon, Conteh recalled being perceived as a potential threat while recovering from a knee injury and walking with a limp through an Atlanta neighborhood. He also acknowledged recognizing similar assumptions within himself when encountering younger Black men. His willingness to interrogate both the prejudices imposed upon him and those he has internalized reveals an important dimension of his practice. Rather than portraying Black Americans as uncomplicated symbols of struggle or resilience, Conteh examines how social circumstances shape individual behavior, including the ways vigilance and self-protection become deeply ingrained.
Seen through this experience, Pat and Lil Pat becomes a meditation on the emotional cost of maintaining strength in a society where vulnerability is not always afforded the same protection. Yet the painting also speaks to tenderness, trust, and the importance of intimate relationships as spaces where individuals can exist without the burden of constant vigilance.
Art-Historical Context: Black Portraiture, Representation, and the Interior Life
Pat and Lil Pat enters into a significant art-historical conversation with the work of Charles White, Barkley L. Hendricks, Amy Sherald, and Kehinde Wiley, artists who have challenged conventional representations of Black identity and expanded the place of Black subjects within American art. Across generations, these artists have used portraiture to affirm dignity, individuality, and presence. Conteh builds upon this legacy while directing attention toward the psychological consequences of how Black individuals are perceived.
The work of Charles White offers an especially meaningful historical foundation. White’s monumental depictions of ordinary Black Americans elevated everyday people to positions of dignity and historical importance, frequently emphasizing resilience, labor, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Barkley L. Hendricks similarly transformed portraiture through commanding representations of Black individuals whose fashion, posture, and self-possession asserted their autonomy. Conteh shares their commitment to the significance of the everyday Black subject but complicates the outward appearance of strength. Rather than presenting confidence and resilience as complete expressions of identity, Pat and Lil Pat considers the emotional demands involved in sustaining them.
A compelling contemporary dialogue also emerges with Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley, whose portraits have expanded the visibility of Black subjects within institutional and historical frameworks. Sherald’s carefully composed figures, often rendered in her distinctive grayscale treatment of skin, invite viewers to consider identity beyond conventional racialized expectations. Wiley reimagines the visual language of European aristocratic portraiture, positioning contemporary Black individuals within compositions traditionally reserved for wealth and authority. While these artists challenge how Black subjects are seen and positioned within art history, Conteh directs attention toward the experience of being seen and the assumptions that accompany visibility.
Conteh further distinguishes his practice through the relationship between material and meaning. His unconventional surfaces, often incorporating industrial and organic materials, connect his subjects to the environments and social conditions shaping their lives. This material vocabulary, combined with his psychological approach to portraiture, contributes a distinct perspective to contemporary figurative painting.
In conversation with White, Hendricks, Sherald, and Wiley, Conteh advances the possibilities of Black portraiture by asking not simply who deserves to be seen, but what remains unseen within the people we believe we know?
Relevance to the High Museum of Art
The acquisition of Pat and Lil Pat presents an opportunity for the High Museum of Art to strengthen its contemporary collection through a work deeply rooted in Atlanta while contributing a distinctive perspective to American figurative painting. As an Atlanta-based artist whose practice examines the social and psychological realities of Black life in the South, Conteh offers an important voice in documenting the cultural experiences and evolving artistic narratives of the region.
While significant works of Black portraiture have historically emphasized dignity, visibility, self-possession, and the reclamation of representation, Conteh extends this tradition by examining the internal consequences of social perception. This perspective would add a valuable interpretive dimension to the museum’s contemporary holdings, expanding the conversation from representation itself to the complexities of individual experience.
Beyond its art-historical significance, the painting offers opportunities for scholarship, exhibitions, and educational programming exploring identity, Black masculinity, and the relationship between personal experience and broader social conditions. Its acquisition would affirm Atlanta’s importance as a center of contemporary artistic production while enriching the museum’s narrative of American art.
Institutional Recognition and Collecting Context
Conteh’s growing institutional recognition supports the significance of acquiring a major work from his practice. His work is represented in notable institutional and public collections, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Hammonds House Museum, the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, and the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, among others.
His exhibition history, including Strangers/Kin: The Lens of Alfred Conteh at the Peoria Riverfront Museum in 2025, demonstrates the broader relevance of his examination of Black community, identity, and the connections between personal and collective histories.
Together, these institutional engagements establish a strong collecting context for the High Museum to acquire a work of particular significance to Atlanta.
Collecting Significance and Long-Term Value
From a collector’s perspective, Pat and Lil Pat possesses qualities central to an important institutional acquisition: a clearly articulated artistic concept, a compelling visual narrative, significance within the artist’s broader practice, and the capacity to sustain meaningful interpretation over time.
Particularly valuable is Conteh’s firsthand explanation of the composition, which provides primary-source documentation of the artist’s intent. Such insight strengthens the work’s potential for future scholarship and interpretation while establishing its significance within ongoing discussions of Black masculinity, identity, and emotional well-being.
These qualities position the painting as an enduring resource for exhibition, research, and public engagement across generations.
Acquisition Recommendation
Black Art In America recommends Pat and Lil Pat for acquisition by the High Museum of Art’s contemporary collection as a significant example of Alfred Conteh’s contribution to American figurative painting.
Bringing together psychological depth, social observation, and material experimentation, the work represents a distinctive contribution to the continuing evolution of Black portraiture. Its importance lies in Conteh’s ability to reveal dimensions of human experience that extend beyond outward appearance, challenging viewers to reconsider familiar assumptions about strength, identity, and vulnerability.
Its acquisition would preserve not simply an image of Black life in Atlanta, but an important artistic statement about the internal lives of those who inhabit it.
For the High Museum of Art, Pat and Lil Pat offers a compelling combination of regional significance, artistic distinction, and enduring human relevance—qualities that make it a meaningful addition to the permanent collection.
Prepared by Black Art In America™
Documenting, Preserving, and Promoting African American Visual Culture
