Atlanta artist Jamaal Barber featured on MTV's 'The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist'

May 26th, 2023

Atlanta artist and printmaker Jamaal Barber. (Courtesy of Jamaal Barber)

Pursuing a full-time career as an artist is challenging. There are regular ups and downs and sometimes unforeseeable hurdles.

MTV’s show “The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great Artist” takes the subject of reality into the world of reality TV by creating a high-stakes art competition.

Out of thousands of artists, only seven were chosen to compete for a $100,000 prize and an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Gallery in Washington, DC.

Among those seven artists chosen for the premiere show was Atlanta artist and printmaker Jamaal Barber. In this interview, “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes speaks with the artist about his artwork and the reality TV experience.

“If you look at the show, you’ll see I did drawings, I did prints, I did collage, I did paintings. I kind of did all kinds of stuff because I really got to embrace the journey part of it,” Barber said.

More information about Atlanta artist and printmaker Jamaal Barber’s work is available here.