Discover original fine art by emerging artists in Foundations, Artsy’s annual online showcase of rising talent.
Foundations brings together Detroit artists Andre Barker and Oshun Williams. Rooted in lived experience, their works examine the people, places, and histories that shape who we are, offering thoughtful reflections on resilience, connection, and the foundations of contemporary life.
ANDRE BARKER
Andre Barker Jr. (b. 1997) is a figurative painter from Detroit, Michigan. He graduated summa cum laude with his BFA from Wayne State University in 2022 and earned his MFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2024. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art, Art History & Design at Wayne State University in Detroit, Ml, and is represented by M Contemporary Art.
Barker has received several accolades, including two Art Activity and Achievement awards from Wayne State University, a Dwight W. Follett Continuing Graduate Student Fellowship, and a Diversity and Inclusion Award from Columbia College Chicago. His work has been exhibited at The 3 Square Art gallery in Fort Collins, CO; The Buckham Gallery in Flint, MI; The KCAD Alluvium Gallery in Grand Rapids, MI; and The Detroit Historical Museum in Detroit, MI. In 2024, he held a solo show at M Contemporary Art in Ferndale, MI. He was also selected for the 2025 Judy Sigunick "fellowship in the Visual Arts at the Ragdale residency in Lake View, IL, and will be featured in New American Paintings, No. 179, Midwest Issue.
ANDRE BARKER
Acrylic on canvas
36 × 36 inches
Barker often builds his paintings around one or more figures, allowing portions of the surrounding environment to dissolve into loose line work or empty space. A street corner is only partially described. An interior is suggested rather than completed. Even when the figures are rendered with total specificity, the world around them remains open, almost unfinished.
What is left unsaid can communicate as fully as any description.
OSHUN WILLIAMS
Photo: Jimel Primm
Pontiac native, Oshun Williams is a mixed-media artist based in Detroit. After joining the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club in 2022, Williams quickly gained recognition through a series of sold-out exhibitions — selling more than 200 works to date. His innovative approach to story telling and painting has sparked growing demand among collectors for emerging art. In 2024, he was awarded the Gucci Changemakers Siren Art Wall and commissioned work for the University of Michigan’s permanent collection. Beyond his own practice, Williams remains deeply engaged in his community—collaborating, collecting, and curating the work of fellow artists.
Williams reduces narrative to its essentials, leaving only gestures and fragments that allow the viewer to fill in the blanks and project their own memories onto the familiar scenes in front of them. Like a memory, these paintings deny the viewer perfect clarity. We don't remember every face in a family photograph or every detail of a summer barbecue.
What remains are fragments: the way someone stood, the music that was playing, the feeling of safety that family and familiarity can provide.
