Shaquille-Aaron Keith is a polymath in the true sense of the word. It is one thing to be creative and to have a handle on one’s chosen medium; it’s another thing entirely to utilise multiple mediums of expression, and for these threads to weave indistinguishably into a unified expression – for Shaquille, this expression is as honest and heartfelt as he is. To be an artist in the 21st century is to navigate all manner of digital and physical realities; and to be an artist today, is to squarely face constraints in the face, and walk straight past them and effortlessly into the proverbial sunset. You may know Shaquille from the cult-status Youtube channel PAQ; a space where streetwear reverberated across the screens of nearly a million subscribers, and one of the first of its kind to showcase our generation as defining fashion content production, discussion and dissemination. Its archive, with the show being on a tentative hiatus, is a goldmine; and its four presenters have splintered off to make their solo mark on the world. Shaquille’s current work is a rich intersection between fashion and art; as a painter, poet, animator, model and cultural archivist; and his most recent stop along the way was right in Cape Town, for Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2023, exhibiting for Eclectica Contemporary.

Image Courtesy of Eclectica Contemporary.

“I used to watch a lot of anime with my older siblings, I’m the youngest of four. My two older brothers introduced me to Dragon-Ball Z, and I used to try and draw Goku when he went Super Saiyan; obviously they were really bad, but I liked how my interpretation was coming out, and seeing how I could distil a moment in animation that contains many frames, into one picture. I think those years of my childhood drawing with friends, surrounded by tons of pencils, are some of the most important moments to me until this day.” Shaquille reminisces, and the nuance of TV as hand-drawn, digitised worlds are something almost inarticulable to those of us raised on cartoons and anime. I still count Beerus, Dragon-Ball Z’s God of Destruction, as one of my patron saints. For Shaquille, his creativity hasn’t stopped flowing since those formative years – whether it was the first art-kit given to him by his mum, or his introduction to the mindful, soothing nature of brush strokes and paint. Drawing, though, was a mainstay throughout school, “I used to draw in every class, except for art class – because I knew I could learn something in art class. I used to get detention all the time, and letters sent home, saying ‘Shaquille is drawing pictures in class that he thinks is good’ and what bothered me about each letter is that they made a point to say that ‘he thinks’ it’s good. Man, those were my first critics, and it was my first challenge.” Growing up in South London, Shaquille’s version of grade 10 meant that students are able to specialise through ‘GCSEs’ – an education framework which for British kids, is a version of matriculation that we know here in South Africa. When his teachers advised his mum that he should follow the GCSE art pathway, all those years of drawing came to be recognised – finally, “when I went to college, I wanted to try something different – I’d been drawing for 12 years, and I wanted to see how that would translate digitally. So media studies was a beautiful, broad overview that taught me to develop varying skills, with animation being the stand-out medium that I found. I remember learning to do a GIF, and it blew my mind; if I didn’t loop the frames at the end, I had a consistent animation. That opened up a whole new realm for me.” Phantasia(i) in Motu depicts Shaquille’s animation style – hand drawn illustration, evoking flow that binds together the movement of a body dancing, and it’s from this place that his style had begun to develop. A style that is underpinned by pop cultural references, and deepening as it moves into Shaquille’s symbology-heavy works depicting Blackness, British-ness, culture, love, pain and memory. A stand-out work from 2022 is titled ‘Gentrification (Communal Genocide)’. The painting hides within it varying, surrealist style depictions of a changing neighbourhood of his youth, Lewisham in South-east London. When I describe Shaquille as a cultural archivist, this is precisely what I mean – in his observation and contemplation of his surroundings, everywhere in the world, he uses his calling and purpose as an artist to comment and cultivate dialogue. Shaquille did this with PAQ, and he does so with his artistic practice.

GENTRIFICATION (COMMUNAL GENOCIDE). 2022.

Shaquille’s primary form of written dialogue is poetry. Initially, this was the art-form that he was approached for by VSCO for a campaign, but around this time, three years ago, Shaquille began to share the multiplicity of his skills.“Poetry and painting are one in the same to me, and because I don’t separate them, I find that they add weight to each other. I really like being able to have each of them inform the other. When it comes to poetry, it is more directly in my paintings than just as accompanying text. My favourite artist of all time, Nas, is a poet and every time he tells a story, it’s incredibly detailed. I reference his art-form of rap in the way that I work. The background is the beat, and towards the foreground is the first verse – second verse is how the background and foreground interact with each other, and then the hook is the little details that the viewer might have to look at twice, and maybe that showcases a kind of technical ability. When it comes the work ‘Gentrification’ for example, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how there’s no lines I won’t cross, really, in the name of art and to tell a message.’’ 

As a self-professed romantic, Shaquille owes his poetry to wanting to woo girls at 16 years old; and the kind of poignant, heart centred tone remains in his work today, gripping the reader. This caught the attention of Gucci Beauty, too – when Shaquille was invited to create a series of original poetry for a series of lipsticks, “with Beauty Papers Magazine, I got to work with Gucci, which was so surreal. I got to see how my work can exist in a commercial space, and Gucci in particular is amazing in allowing their creators and collaborators to have free-reign. I really felt I could be as abstract as I could be, and they showcased my poems in my handwriting. It felt very earnest.”

 I can’t hear you, It’s Picture day. 2023. Mixed media on board, 120 x 150 cm.

It’s Shaquille’s first time in Africa, so being here has been deep, “I think when I knew I hit heaven, was when I was on Chapman’s Peak, wedged between this great ocean and the mountain. I think the artwork out here is so vibrant, and I feel like the colours of Cape Town in general are just on another level. I didn’t see Cape Town as being a part of my plans for 2023, but when I met Marli and Shamiela in Paris at AKAA, it led to them being invited to the Investec Art Fair. I’ve met so many incredible artists and people – and I’ve even extended my stay. I was supposed to fly home, today; and honestly? I want to rent a place and come and be here for a few months. I can see myself creating here, and travelling through the country.” Shaquille speaks of his experience here in the way that he speaks of his career; with excitement, and the energy of purpose. Art, in all its forms beckoned Shaquille as a young kid, pencils in hand, and now; the vision continues to be revealed, wherever in the world this purpose might take him.

Images by Robin Jones and Nicholas Farmer, with gratitude to Eclectica Contemporary.

Written by: Holly Beaton