Once in a blue moon, someone picks up a paintbrush for the first time and the magic happens. Without any background or training, they wield the brush as though they were a trained professional. This is what happened to Tré Taliaferro just 4 years ago.
“One day I was sitting in my room looking at a ton of videos on Youtube,” Tré recalls. He was a high school student at the time. “I came across a guy that did a landscape in nothing but colors and decided I wanted to give it a try. So I bought some paint and a canvas the next day and did my take on it. I uploaded it to social media and a few people gave me some feedback and said that it was really good so I tried it again with a different picture.”
Since that serendipitous day in 2013, Tré has developed a thriving local business. With each new painting, “I use a very strict and practiced process…to keep the style I’ve developed,” Tré reveals. “Every painting is a freestyle and one random color dictates what the next color will be next to it. If there’s any challenge, it would be trying to create dimension with unrealistic colors while refraining from using too much of the same color, while still keeping the perfect balance.”
Even though painting comes so naturally, Tré still is not immune to the voice of his inner critic. “When I go back and look at a painting a week or so after completion, I’m very hard on myself and only think of how I could’ve done certain areas a little better, but then I apply those lessons learned into the next painting.
Cultural Arts Center, Glen Allen, VA.
Reaching another milestone, Tré recently made his first solo exhibition, a month-long display at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen, Virginia featuring his collection of portraits, Contemporary Classics.
“When I do paintings of people, mainly very well known entertainers, sometimes I’ll do them because of their influence on my life and other times it’ll be due to the timing,” he explains. “Maybe they’re very talked about at the time, they could’ve passed away around the same date but an earlier year, or I think it’ll be a good follow up from the last painting I did.”
A Thousand Different Colors is proud to present this collection of portraits – Contemporary Classics by Tré Taliaferro.
These are impressive, Tre! You are a person of incredible talent and vision. I especially like the portrait of Joe Biden and the one just above the Statue of Liberty. That face is so expressive — compels the viewer to pause and consider what the young man might say in a face-to-face conversation. Congrats on your show at the Glen Allen Cultural Center!
Amazing use of color! Beautiful work, Tre!
Incredible work and powerful story! These portraits are amazing. I’m excited to see how Tré’s career ascends!
Amazing work! 1000 different colors indeed! I like the one of Michael Jackson. The eyes are so well done, so alive! And the use of the color purple in the painting of Prince. Wonderful!
I agree, these are amazing pieces.
I am excited to see what you are currently working on.