At Winthrop University, we thrive off of our diverse and talented student body. Varying from artistic ability to the many leaders that are changing the face of our school daily. Every day we are making future businessman, scientists, creators and innovators who will change the world around us.
One of those emerging leaders is our very own, Antonio Washington. Known by his pseudonym Antonio Christopher, he is beginning to make his name more prevalent on Winthrop’s campus.
Antonio Washington began his academic career at Winthrop in 2016 after graduating from Dreher High School in Columbia, SC. He is a Junior Fine Arts Major that specializes in drawing portraits of black men and women.
Washington first started off drawing at an early age and he immediately loved it. He is driven by drawing portraits that invoke a lot of emotion and can allow the character to truly express themselves. Antonio Christopher uses his drawings to connect with his audience in a personal yet meaningful manner.
He describes his art as very objective because Christopher would rather his audience get their own perspective than coerce them into his own. The only message that he wants to portray to his audience is to make their own story by what they see.
Antonio Christopher is mostly inspired by Japanese artists and African culture. This is reflected in the characters that he depicts who possess exaggerated facial features and very expressive body language.
Not only is his art inspired by his view of the world but his own life. In his recent art series entitled, “Dear My Ex Lovers”, Christopher presented portraits of all his ex-lovers in the way that he saw them after their relationships ended.
“I kind of like, painted them but also put in some poetry that symbolize how they broke my heart and how they made me a stronger person, at the same time,” he said.
Although Christopher is a very talented artist, he plans to branch out and use his ability in other ways. One of his big plans for the future is to work on his final art gallery his senior year, with more artwork that is very personal and symbolic to him. However, his next series that he is working on will be called, “Black Women and Fruits”.
This display will include a new take on black women, natural black hairstyles and African fruits. Christopher’s biggest aspiration is to take his art to the runway and actually design the clothes that are depicted in his paintings.
Antonio Christopher has the potential to be one of Winthrop’s finest. His ability to personalize each character with their own unique story is what makes him so talented. Also, he uses visualization to tell a story without words that reflect his life, feelings and who he is.
Christopher is just amongst the plethora of artists on Winthrop’s campus that is doing something positive with their gifts. We can expect some great things from him as he continues his art career at Winthrop.