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Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

American, b. 1951

Mark Steven Greenfield is a native Angelino and son of a Tuskegee Airman, which led to spending the first part of his life abroad, living on military bases from Taiwan to Germany, until returning to Los Angeles at the age of ten.

In high school Greenfield studied with revered Los Angeles artist John T. Riddle. Riddle quickly noted Greenfield’s talent, but saw that he was vulnerable to the influences and dangers confronting black youth at the time. Riddle remarked, "You could be a pretty good artist....if you live that long.” This got Greenfield’s attention and set him on the path that would define the course of his life.

Greenfield went on to study with Charles White, at Otis Art Institute, and received his bachelor’s degree in art education in 1973 from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s of fine arts degree in painting and drawing from California State University Los Angeles in 1987. In 2022 Greenfield’s work was the subject of a 20-Year retrospective at the Museum of Art & History in Lancaster, CA, from which the Crocker Art Museum acquired a piece for their permanent collection.

Greenfield’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States — most notably with a comprehensive survey exhibition at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles in 2014, and in 2002 at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Internationally, he has exhibited at the Chiang Mai Art Museum in Thailand; at Art 1307 in Naples, Italy; the Blue Roof Museum in Chengdu, China; 1333 Arts, Tokyo, Japan; and the Gang Dong Art Center in Seoul, South Korea.

Greenfield is a recipient of the L.A. Artcore Crystal Award (2006) Los Angeles Artist Laboratory Fellowship Grant (2011), the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship

(COLA 2012), the California Community Foundation Artist Fellowship (2012), the Instituto Sacatar Artist Residency Fellowship in Salvador, Brazil (2013) , the McColl Center for Art + Innovation Residency in Charlotte, North Carolina (2016) and Loghaven Artist Residency in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2021. He was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts in 2013 and California State University Los Angeles in 2016.

From 1993–2011, Greenfield worked for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs as director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, and later as director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park. He has served on the boards of the Downtown Artists Development Association, the Armory Center for the Arts, the Black Creative Professionals Association, the Watts Village Theatre Company and was past president of the Los Angeles Art Association/Gallery 825. He currently teaches drawing and design at Los Angeles City College, and serves on the board of Side Street Projects, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE) and the Harpo Foundation.

Find original Mark Greenfield paintings and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by William Turner Gallery)

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Artist: Mark Steven Greenfield
Balthazar

Balthazar

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

One of the three biblical ‘magi’ or ‘wise men,’ King Balthazar gave the highly prized gift of liquid myrrh to Jesus upon his birth. Balthazar was an African King...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Califia

Califia

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Califia (c. 1510) is the mythical Black warrior Queen and inspiring character in Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s 16th century epic poem, Las Sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandian). In Montalvo’s tale, Queen Califia rules on the fabled island of California, a utopia brimming with pearls and gold and inhabited solely by her menacing army of black Amazon women...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Letitia Munson

Letitia Munson

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Ain't yo' Mama, Make yo' own Goddamn Pancakes

Ain't yo' Mama, Make yo' own Goddamn Pancakes

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

The Tragedy of Margaret Garner
The Tragedy of Margaret Garner

The Tragedy of Margaret Garner

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Cathay Williams

Cathay Williams

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Solitude of Guadeloupe

Solitude of Guadeloupe

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Queen Nzingha Mbande
Queen Nzingha Mbande

Queen Nzingha Mbande

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Celia
Celia

Celia

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Richard Potter
Richard Potter

Richard Potter

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Zumbi dos Palmares

Zumbi dos Palmares

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of history as seen through a white lens. With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view. Many of the figures are from the 1400-1800s, a timeframe that corresponds with Europeans beginning to use racial distinction as a tool to justify slavery. Greenfield honors their simultaneously disturbing and astounding lives by bestowing them with halos, traditionally seen as reverential symbols of adoration and respect. “I am reimagining what a saint is,” Greenfield says. “Maybe in studying their stories, they can inform us on better ways to live.” Thought to have been a descendent of central African royalty...

Category

2010s Byzantine Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Redoshi
Redoshi

Redoshi

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

Category

2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

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Previously Available Items
Rebecca Cox Jackson

Rebecca Cox Jackson

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

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Marie-Joseph Angelique

Marie-Joseph Angelique

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Located in Santa Monica, CA

Halo presents an amazing cast of historical black figures, most of whom were legendary and mythic characters in their time, but have been nearly lost to the vagaries and biases of hi...

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Estevanico
Estevanico

Estevanico

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

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Henry "Box" Brown
Henry "Box" Brown

Henry "Box" Brown

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

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Xica da Silva
Xica da Silva

Xica da Silva

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view. Francisca da Silva de...

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Black Caesar
Black Caesar

Black Caesar

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

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Black Herman
Black Herman

Black Herman

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

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2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

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Rewards Program
Rewards Program

Rewards Program

By Mark Steven Greenfield

Located in Santa Monica, CA

With Halo, Greenfield brings the stories of Black folk-saints, martyrs, freedom-fighters, survivors, magicians, and visionaries back into view.

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2010s Contemporary Mark Steven Greenfield Figurative Paintings

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Mark Steven Greenfield figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Mark Steven Greenfield figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Mark Steven Greenfield in acrylic paint, gold leaf, gold and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Mark Steven Greenfield figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 16 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Victor Wang, Jennifer Hornyak, and Hector Frank. Mark Steven Greenfield figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $10,500 and tops out at $35,000, while the average work can sell for $10,500.