American Paradox
The dream and its price on one face
The dream and the cost of it, worn on the same face.
American Paradox keeps the promise and the betrayal together because that contradiction is part of the country itself. The face carries both without resolving either one for you.
Related works: American Divide, American Paradox, Fragmented Promises, Speechless America, and No Comment belong in the same conversation. American Divide shows the fracture. American Paradox holds the promise and the betrayal at the same time. Fragmented Promises deals with what remains when those promises break. Speechless America confronts the silence that follows when the truth is visible but still goes unanswered. No Comment turns silence into a choice.
This one-of-one work by Harlem artist Corey Wesley is part of Unapologetic Faces: The Cost of Being Seen. It is signed and documented with a certificate of authenticity.
36x24 wall art. Archival museum-quality aluminum on an MDF back. Scratch and fade resistant, with nothing over the surface. No glass, no acrylic. Ready to hang, French cleat included, floats half an inch off the wall and hangs vertical or horizontal. Signed on the front by Corey Wesley. Signed certificate of authenticity included.
Contact Carol Ward About This Piece
Corey Wesley
Harlem shaped his practice: the faces on the subway, in recovery rooms, and in the space between performance and collapse. He creates what remains when the face stops performing.
His proprietary mixed-media process combines writing, Photoshop, Illustrator, and modern technology, including AI-assisted tools. Over days or months, he refines symbolism, color, composition, facial structure, and emotional tone until each work carries his recognizable visual language.
The faces in these works are archetypes. They belong to everyone. And no one.
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Each one of one. Once acquired, it does not return.
