ARTIST STATEMENT (SKIN DEEP 2010)
“I grew up in a racially mixed town right outside of New York City. In addition to the locals, we had kids from all over the world whose parents worked at the United Nations. With few exceptions we all got along great. My high school girlfriend was a real African princess from Upper Volta. I had dreams of becoming a Jewish African-American King.

A decade or so later I hit my mother with the Jewish dilemma. My new girlfriend was doctor, but also black. Oye Vey. I know that for many artists “black and white” elicits images of tension and of past social inequities. For me black and white has always meant warmth. I hope these paintings project the feelings I have for some of those people that have made me feel loved.”

ARTIST STATEMENT (SKIN DEEP: THEN AND NOW 2020)
In 2010 I did 2 paintings for the first Skin-Deep show. Both were based on my belief that things could get better. At the time I believed that if people of all shades just intermingled and dated eventually a lot of this racial hatred would vanish. I painted Banned in Mississippi, depicting a loving interracial couple from a state that had at one time made it a crime to fall in love. Their love made them oblivious to the hatred around them. Adam and Eve, 2010 started from the idea that if the first couple had been interracial it might have kept us from all our racial diversity problems from that point on.

I have always believed that if a few generations down the line everyone has racially mixed grandchildren most of these problems would magically disappear. People seem to love their grandchildren no matter what color they are. If everyone descending from Adam and Eve had been mixed, we’d have no problems.

In 2020 I had a really hard time coming up with an image to paint. I didn’t want to be the white guy looking in and throwing advice in from the end zone. I didn’t want to seem like an interloper on this issue. I kept thinking of something I heard said on the radio, that racial inequity isn’t a black problem, it is a white problem. That thought bangs around in my head when I see other white people who will not accept that they have many advantages by being white. I get frustrated at people who don’t understand the meaning of Black Lives Matter and are too lazy to think about what those three words actually mean.

I thought my only honest option for Skin Deep – Then and Now was to draw attention to a few of the simple advantages I have been given by being born white, like not having to worry about getting shot every time I go for a drive.

Ted Meyer “White Nuggets” Acrylic on wood panel 9 panels / 6”x6” each