Darius Steward Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

STAGES # 8 (Darius II, hand raised to face) Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right. Exhibited: Worthington Yards, YARDSProject, FRONT and SEEN....

E Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) Condition: Excellent Archival framing with OP3 Acrylic Sheet/Image size: 30 x 38 inch...

"R" From: MORE? Series (5 works) Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photos) Watercolor on Yupo, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Exhibit...

O Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) Note: The Series MORE? is centered around the artist’s family. There are two images of the artist’s s...

Signed with the artist's initials lower right Darius Steward is an American contemporary artist, muralist, educator, and community advocate whose emotionally charged watercolor pain...

Stolen Moments (4) Ink on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Condition: Excellent Image size: 14 x 11 inches Darius Steward is an American con...

STAGES # 1 (Darius II, full face) Watercolor on Yupo paper mounted to Masonite, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Exhibited: Worthington Yards, YARDSPro...

Babies Taking Care of Babies, "The Real" Watercolor on Arches paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed with the artist's embossed "Yummy" blindstamp lower rig...

"In Search of New Beginnings", #1 What 's the Right Way Watercolor on Arches paper, 2021 signed lower right (see photo) Signed with the artist's "Yummy" embossed blindstamp lower right The images depicts the artist's daughter Emily, the artist's son Darius II and the artist's nephew Isaiah Series: Baggage Claim A preliminary watercolor for the sculpture commission for the Cleveland Public Library...

Lets Find the Way #1 Watercolor on Arches wove paper, 2021 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed, titled and dated in pencil verso This watercolor is related to the ar...

Splashes of Ohio City (No. 3) Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2012 Signed lower right (see photo) Titled and dated on verso Part of a series of watercolors commissioned by the Cleveland Cl...

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 Frame size: 33 x 25 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...

Natural Watercolor and pigments on Arches paper, 2021 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed with the artist's embossed "Yummy" blindstamp lower right An image of the a...

The Get Up (Plate 1 of 4) Watercolor on Yupo mounted to board, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Series: The Get Up (4 plates) Exhibited: Occupying A Space, Swope Ar...

Baggage Claim (Bag 1) Watercolor on Arches paper, 2020 Signed with the artist's initials Signed with the artist's "Yummy" blindstamp Exhibited: LA Art, 2020 Condition: Excellent Arc...

Read the Signs, No. 13 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 Signed lower right corner (see photo) Series: Read the Signs (22 watercolors) Exhibited: William Busta Gallery, Read the Signs, 2014 Canton Museum of Art, Our Separated Selves, 2018 (label) Note: Depicts Randy, a student at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, where the artist taught Condition: Excellent Image size: 12 x 9 inches Frame size: 16 1/4 x 13 1/4 inches Darius Steward is an American contemporary artist, muralist, educator, and community advocate whose emotionally charged watercolor paintings and public art projects examine race, memory, identity, grief, and social inequity in contemporary America. Born in 1984 and raised in inner city East Cleveland, Ohio, Steward has developed a nationally recognized practice rooted in portraiture, social commentary, and community engagement, establishing himself as one of the leading contemporary figurative artists working in the Midwest. Steward attended the Cleveland School of the Arts and the Interlochen Center for the Arts before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware in 2010. Following graduate study, he returned to Cleveland, where he established a studio practice centered on watercolor portraiture distinguished by luminous color, dramatic negative space, and psychologically resonant figuration. Drawing upon the experiences of family members, children, and members of his community, Steward transforms personal narratives into broader meditations on vulnerability, resilience, displacement, and the complexities of Black identity in contemporary American life. Working primarily in watercolor on Yupo paper, Steward has developed a distinctive visual language that combines technical virtuosity with emotional immediacy. His paintings explore the psychological pressures confronting African American communities through fragmented compositions and carefully orchestrated spatial relationships. Themes of racial violence, social instability, masculinity, grief, and generational memory recur throughout his work, while expansive fields of white space create a dynamic tension between presence and absence, isolation and transcendence. Over the past decade, Steward has exhibited extensively in museums, galleries, and nonprofit art spaces throughout the United States. Notable solo exhibitions include Pressure at Maria Neil Art Project, Cleveland (2016); Our Separated Selves at the Canton Museum of Art (2018); Occupying A Space at the Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana (2019); and Moving On at the Bonfoey Gallery in collaboration with Thomas French Fine Art (2019). In recognition of his artistic achievement and community impact, Steward received the Cleveland Arts Prize Emerging Artist Award in 2018. His work has appeared in significant museum exhibitions including Constant as the Sun at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; FRONT International-associated exhibitions at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and African American Art: Past, Present, and Future at the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University. Steward's work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Akron Art Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Flint Institute of Arts, Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa, Swope Art Museum, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Cleveland Clinic Collection, MetroHealth Collection, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Summa Health Collection, the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art, and the University of Delaware Collection. In 2020, the Cleveland Museum of Art acquired Steward's drypoint The Practice #1 as a gift from Thomas French Fine Art. Upon the acquisition of Steward's work by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Director Kaywin Feldman remarked: “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.” Feldman later became Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Alongside his studio practice, Steward has earned recognition for ambitious public art projects throughout Northeast Ohio. In 2018 he completed two major public murals: Breaker of Chains, a 200-foot mural commissioned through MidTown Cleveland and Cleveland State University, and Support, located on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. His mural The Waiting Room (2020), commissioned by Summa Health in Akron, transformed a hospital environment into a contemplative space focused on healing, patience, and shared humanity. Additional public commissions include Bowser Alley in Shaker Heights (2020), the POW! WOW! Cleveland Walls mural at the Rainey Institute (2021), a companion mural for the Lee–Harvard Branch Library (2021), and a major commission for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland (2019). Steward further expanded his public practice through Baggage Claim: In Search of New Beginnings (2021), a sculptural installation created in collaboration with LAND Studio and the Cleveland Public Library...

Stages II Watercolor on Arches paper, 2021 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Signed with the artist's Yummy blindstamp lower right Signed, titled and dated in...

Emily At 1 (Study 2) Watercolor on Yupo mounted to board, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) This image depicts the artist's daughter Emily Exhibited: Occ...

Read the Signs #3 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 Signed lower right (see photo) Series: Read the Signs (22 watercolors) Depicts the artist's relative Jaylen ...

Occupy A Space #1 (Emily) Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials Series: Occupying A Space Exhibited: Occupying A Space, Swope Art Museum, January 18-March 3, 2019 seenUNseen: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis...

Read the Signs #25 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 signed lower right: Darius Steward Series: Read the Signs Depicts Gwen, the artist's sister An early work b...

Today's Sketches for Tomorrow, #1 Watercolor, 2020 Series: Today's Sketches for Tomorrow Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed with the artist's Yummy stamp lower righ...

Influences #2 Watercolor on Yupo paper, mounted to board, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials and dated lower right (see photo) From Steward's Influences Series Exhibited: Swope A...

Baggage Claim (Bags) #1 Watercolor on Yupo paper, mounted to board, 2017 Signed "Rhonda V" in memory of the artist's mother (see photo) Created in 2017 this series, Baggage Claim, speaks to the symbolic emotional weight one accumulates through life and how the accumulations weigh down the spirit. The artist used handbags...

Dad Taught Me to Be Brave , No. 3 (Hand touching lips) Signed with the artist's initials. Watercolor on Yupo paper Series: Dad Taught Me to Be Brave (3 watercolors) Signed with the a...

Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Excellent color and condition Archival framing with OP3 acrylic, floated in a white gallery frame matchin...

Study for “The Breaker of Chains” Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) For the Midtown (Cleveland) Mural, located on 28th and Euc...

Stolen Moments, Attitude Shift #1 (Emily and Sippy Cup Smiling) Watercolor on Twinrocker Multi Purpose paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed with the artist's "Yummy" blind stamp lower right Exhibited: LA Art, 2020, January 2020 Condition: excellent Image/Sheet size: 10 1/8 x 12 3/4 inches Frame size: 14 x 17 inches Darius Steward is an American contemporary artist, muralist, educator, and community advocate whose emotionally charged watercolor paintings and public art projects examine race, memory, identity, grief, and social inequity in contemporary America. Born in 1984 and raised in inner city East Cleveland, Ohio, Steward has developed a nationally recognized practice rooted in portraiture, social commentary, and community engagement, establishing himself as one of the leading contemporary figurative artists working in the Midwest. Steward attended the Cleveland School of the Arts and the Interlochen Center for the Arts before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing and Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware in 2010. Following graduate study, he returned to Cleveland, where he established a studio practice centered on watercolor portraiture distinguished by luminous color, dramatic negative space, and psychologically resonant figuration. Drawing upon the experiences of family members, children, and members of his community, Steward transforms personal narratives into broader meditations on vulnerability, resilience, displacement, and the complexities of Black identity in contemporary American life. Working primarily in watercolor on Yupo paper, Steward has developed a distinctive visual language that combines technical virtuosity with emotional immediacy. His paintings explore the psychological pressures confronting African American communities through fragmented compositions and carefully orchestrated spatial relationships. Themes of racial violence, social instability, masculinity, grief, and generational memory recur throughout his work, while expansive fields of white space create a dynamic tension between presence and absence, isolation and transcendence. Over the past decade, Steward has exhibited extensively in museums, galleries, and nonprofit art spaces throughout the United States. Notable solo exhibitions include Pressure at Maria Neil Art Project, Cleveland (2016); Our Separated Selves at the Canton Museum of Art (2018); Occupying A Space at the Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana (2019); and Moving On at the Bonfoey Gallery in collaboration with Thomas French Fine Art (2019). In recognition of his artistic achievement and community impact, Steward received the Cleveland Arts Prize Emerging Artist Award in 2018. His work has appeared in significant museum exhibitions including Constant as the Sun at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland; FRONT International-associated exhibitions at the Cleveland Institute of Art; Currents and Constellations: Black Art in Focus at the Cleveland Museum of Art; and African American Art: Past, Present, and Future at the David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University. Steward's work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Akron Art Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Flint Institute of Arts, Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa, Swope Art Museum, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Cleveland Clinic Collection, MetroHealth Collection, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Summa Health Collection, the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art, and the University of Delaware Collection. In 2020, the Cleveland Museum of Art acquired Steward's drypoint The Practice #1 as a gift from Thomas French Fine Art. Upon the acquisition of Steward's work by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Director Kaywin Feldman remarked: “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.” Feldman later became Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Alongside his studio practice, Steward has earned recognition for ambitious public art projects throughout Northeast Ohio. In 2018 he completed two major public murals: Breaker of Chains, a 200-foot mural commissioned through MidTown Cleveland and Cleveland State University, and Support, located on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. His mural The Waiting Room (2020), commissioned by Summa Health in Akron, transformed a hospital environment into a contemplative space focused on healing, patience, and shared humanity. Additional public commissions include Bowser Alley in Shaker Heights (2020), the POW! WOW! Cleveland Walls mural at the Rainey Institute (2021), a companion mural for the Lee–Harvard Branch Library (2021), and a major commission for Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland (2019). Steward further expanded his public practice through Baggage Claim: In Search of New Beginnings (2021), a sculptural installation created in collaboration with LAND Studio and the Cleveland Public Library...

Stolen Moments #2 Watercolor on Twinrocker All Purpose Paper Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) From the series: Stolen Moments Signed with the artist's "Yummy...

Emily at Age 5, (Yummy in a hoodie) Acrylic ink on Graphic Plastic Film, 2022 Signed with the artist's initials, lower right (see photo) Condition: Excellent Sheet size: 8 1/8 x 7 7/...

Read the Signs, No. 7 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 Signed with the artist's signature lower right (see photo) Series: Read the Signs (22 watercolors) Exhib...

Stolen Moments No. 1 (Emily drawing with a green crayon) Watercolor on Twinrocker heavy height paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Condition: Excell...

Yummy Dissatisfied Watercolor on Arches paper, 2020 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Signed with the artist's "Yummy" blindstamp lower right Exhibited: LA Ar...

Stolen Moments, Attitude Shift #2 (Emily with Sippy Cup) Watercolor on Twinrocker All Purpose Paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (...

Read the Signs, No. 13 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 Signed lower right corner (see photo) Series: Read the Signs (22 watercolors) Exhibited: William Busta Gallery, Read the Signs, ...

Stolen Moments, Attitude Shift #1 (Emily and Sippy Cup Smiling) Watercolor on Twinrocker Multi Purpose paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lowe...

Emily At 1 (Study #1) Watercolor on Yupo mounted to board, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) The image depicts the artist's daughter Emily. Exhibited: Occupying A Sp...

Read the Signs #29 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2013 signed lower right: Darius Steward (see photo) Series: Read the Signs Depicts the artist's son Darius II an...

M Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) Note: The Series MORE? is centered around the artist’s family. There are two images of the artist’s s...

Occupy A Space # 2 (Emily) Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials (see photo) Series: Occupy A Space Exhibited: Occupying A Space, Swope Art Museum, January...

Stolen Moments, Attitude Shift #3 (Emily with a Sippy Cup Smiling) Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right Signed w...

Stolen Moments, Attitude, Angle #2 Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed by the artist DRS #1, lower right (see photo) .Exhibited: LA Art, 2020 Co...

Stolen Moments #3 (Emily) Watercolor on Twinrocker All Purpose Paper Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Signed with the artist's "Yummy" blindstamp lower right...

DRS2at 7 Color ink on Yupo paper, 2019 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) Condition:Excellent Archival framing with op3 Acrylic Image size: 12 x 8 7/8" Framed...

Baggage Claim (Sketch #4) Watercolor on Arches paper, 2017 Signed "Rhonda V" in memory of the artist's mother From the series: Baggage Claim, inspired by the death of the artist's mo...

Baggage Claim (Bags) #2 Watercolor on Yupo paper, mounted to board, 2017 Signed "Rhonda V" in memory of the artist's mother From the series:...