Akil Roper creates with acrylic paint and ink, graphite and watercolor pencils, art inspired by his family, Black culture, social justice, and nature.
“Art is an opportunity to entertain, inspire and educate.” A social justice lawyer by day, and an artist by night, Akil Roper believes that art is a powerful form of communication, one that can create bonds and stimulate social change.
These beliefs are infused in his colorful, powerful representational works.
During the pandemic, he was selected as one of several winners of a juried weekly art contest by the Newark Museum of Art.
His latest showings include Black History Month solo exhibition at the New Jersey Law Center; Akwaaba Gallery’s “Ancestral Call” group show; StudioMontclar’s “Viewpoints2021”, Newark’s La Cocina Gallery; Jersey City’s Arthouse; Newark’s Akwaaba Gallery; Morristown’s Art in the Atrium; South Orange’s Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel(TSTI); Jersey City Theatre Company; Newark Arts Festival; Newark’s PorchFest and City Hall, Jersey City. He has presented solo shows at Jersey City’s Gia Gelato and Café for his “Portrait of a People” and “Black and Brown” shows and curated a mixed photography and painting show “Jersey City.”
He lives in Bayonne, New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.