As a Black gay man, Littleton's work deals with bold, unexpected colors, conflicting emotions, and complicated culture bios that abstract expressionism allows him to express — through his experiences with intersectionality between race, sexuality, and gender. Forged as the side effect of the recent heightened cultural awareness of violence, killing American citizens.
This exhibit is called DIY: Find Joy. Littleton learned what joy looked like to him. Joy never gives you the same feeling and at times it is intense or freeing and not his responsibility to find it. His joy will never look like yours because it is personal so it is your responsibility. He can show you how to search for it, but only you can find it.
Littleton chose DIY: Find Joy today because if you are looking for joy he can't find it for you — no one can. Littleton realized that he had lost his joy so he challenged himself to make a series of expressions of what joy looked like to him. It is never the same and not all as intense. His joy will never look like yours because it is personal so it is your personal responsibility to find it. The hue of joy lights of hope.
For 20 days Littleton S. Irby tried to represent joy in his expressionism. What he made to some were steps to find his joy and their variations. They can't all be good but are all necessary for one's life to appreciate. This series was an opportunity to express his glazes of joy. It points out life is more than one-dimensional. And we need all the dimensions to understand our lives and each other — the good and the bad.