What is the difference between me and you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This oil painting feels like a question Bullard\u2019s been carrying around for a while. It\u2019s not loud. There\u2019s no push for spectacle. It moves slower, asks you to slow down with it. The title says it all\u2014this isn\u2019t about answers. It\u2019s about sitting with the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bullard describes this work as a moment of self-realization. And you can feel that\u2014it reads like a personal checkpoint. The colors, the composition, the energy\u2014it\u2019s all there to open a door, not to make a statement. It’s direct without being forceful. He\u2019s not putting on a show. He\u2019s showing you where he\u2019s at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The piece is set to debut in Venice, Italy\u2014a moment that carries its own kind of weight. But the real gravity of this painting is internal. It\u2019s about owning your own reflection. Even the parts that are messy or unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rooster<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rooster<\/em> is grounded in Bullard\u2019s past, but it isn\u2019t nostalgic. It was painted on a found canvas\u2014someone else\u2019s abandoned work. He picked it up, reworked it, made it into something new. That gesture mirrors the chapter of life he was in: bouncing between cities, scraping by, surviving on trade, hustle, instinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He started it in New Orleans. He finished it in Atlanta. Somewhere in the middle, the rooster became more than just a subject\u2014it became a reminder. Of how fast life can shift. Of how much you can live through in one day. Bullard once said, \u201cYou can live a lifetime in 24 hours.\u201d This painting feels like that\u2014like one long, dense breath from someone who didn\u2019t know if tomorrow was guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not polished. It\u2019s not trying to be pretty. It\u2019s real. And that\u2019s what makes it feel alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12 Postcards<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These paintings are tiny, but they carry weight. Bullard made them in between larger works, over a stretch of years. Twelve small paintings, each one its own world. The challenge was clear: can you hold your whole process inside something this small?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turns out, you can. These aren\u2019t afterthoughts. They aren\u2019t studies. They\u2019re full ideas, compressed and distilled. Bullard took his time. He didn\u2019t rush. Each postcard was an exercise in slowing down, letting the work speak without shouting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seven of them are now on their way to Venice. It\u2019s a big trip for something that fits in your palm. But that\u2019s the point\u2014meaning doesn\u2019t have to come in large formats. It\u2019s about what you bring to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bullard isn\u2019t chasing trends. He\u2019s not trying to fit into a scene. His work doesn\u2019t rely on gallery polish or art-world language. It\u2019s direct. It\u2019s emotional. It\u2019s honest. That honesty might be the clearest thread running through everything he paints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These aren\u2019t just paintings. They\u2019re records. Of struggle, curiosity, and persistence. Of a person figuring things out on canvas, one layer at a time. There\u2019s no formula. No performance. Just a man with a brush, returning again and again, trying to stay present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the real work. And that\u2019s what makes it matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Derrick Bullard found painting before he knew what to call it. He was a restless teenager, bouncing between distractions, struggling to stay still long enough for anything to take root. But the moment he started painting, something clicked. It wasn\u2019t about rules or results\u2014it was about getting quiet enough to make something. And that was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artist"},"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19716"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19724,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19716\/revisions\/19724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/artoday.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1000001497-1-640x1024.png\")
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