By Viktoria Capek — Perrion Hurd embodies a multiverse of experiences. At 51, he’s a granddad looking at the world with renewed wonder through the eyes of his grandson, Marley. But inside him, the spirit of a younger man also lives.

 A 32-year-old seeking stability in a corporate job. A 24-year-old clubber immersed in techno beats and hypnotic dances that disguise the world around him. A 13-year-old comic-book lover discovering lands beyond, and an 8-year-old with a pencil in hand, sketching his first dreams into reality. 

This multiverse within Hurd fuels his work as an artist, each version of himself contributing to a tapestry that speaks not just to one but to many stages of life and aspects of the Black experience. 

His latest art display, “Innocence Unveiled,” is no exception. The collection of 13 linocut images and matching prints, on display at The Foundation’s Main Street gallery for February in honor of Black History Month, marks his first exhibit of 2024. Days before the opening, Hurd was looking down at the show’s images sprawled out on the second floor of his art studio in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. 

“I don’t have a picture of him yet because he is a wiggler,” Hurd said with a triumphant smile, proudly describing a commonality between him and his grandson. Hurd also refers to himself as a wiggler, brimming with energy and constantly searching for a way to let it out. 

The layout of linoleum flooring pieces topped with a layer of black India ink were carved with intricate designs—straight lines, curved lines, stars, circles, grids, dots—that formed images of Black children, including one of himself as a young boy, one of his daughter when she was 2 and one of his mother when she was 17. 

“The show is in tribute to my grandson,” Hurd said. “He’s the most beautiful little thing that I’ve seen in an extremely long time. Flowers, kittens, babies. My beautiful, sweet wife.” Hurd, whose childlike spirit emanated from his body and words, danced around the art in his studio as he continued the long list of beautiful things.  “It’s like everything got vivid again,” he said. “New life is here, dude. It’s that energy. I got to do something with this.”

“Innocence Unveiled” marks the third chapter in Hurd’s most recent artistic odyssey. It’s inspired by the Hero’s Journey, a mythological framework outlining the adventure of a hero as they go through various stages of life. 

In 2022, Hurd created linocut images and prints of women, exploring themes of the nurturing force. It sets the stage for the journey ahead, highlighting the foundational role of women in the narrative of life. 

In 2023, it moved through men. “New Forms: Black Male Portraiture through Afro-Futurism,” presented at Hearne Fine Art Gallery, brought forth dynamics of strength, protection and action. This chapter of the hero’s journey explores the complementarity and contrast to the feminine and represents the trials and challenges a hero faces in their journey. 

Now, Hurd celebrates children, showcasing their simple joy and curiosity that shape our early years. His work represents new life, hope, innocence and the future, reflecting the coming together of feminine and masculine qualities. His next installment will explore families, a chapter likely to symbolize the creation of a legacy, the complexity of human relationships and the cyclical nature of life.  Each piece of Hurd’s art tells an individual story. Similarly, each show recounts its own message. When put together, however, his pieces tell a story like one big art installation

.“I would hope that this next generation of children would see my art and see themselves in my art,” Hurd said, relaying the Hero’s Journey inspiration back to “Innocence Unveiled.” 

The exhibition’s opening, while quiet, hummed with the curious energy of visitors drawn to Hurd’s storytelling through sunlight and halo imagery in each piece.  One image, titled “Double Dutch,” particularly resonated. Within the first hour of opening, four patrons walked out with a $75 print of the young girl with a cheeky smile, two braids laying on the top left and right sides of her head. The artwork captured her defiant joy, looking as though she just told the school bully on the playground to stop picking on the smaller kids. 

This piece spoke directly to R.A. Howard, a fan of Hurd’s ever since he saw himself in the artist’s Black Afro-Futurism exhibit in 2023.  “It reminded me of my little sister as a kid, man,” Howard, a Black man, shared. He clutched his print of “Double Dutch” close to his body. “It just stuck out to me.”  The 37-year-old is a lifelong artist. He’s a photographer who looks up to, what he calls, the “OGs,” such as Hurd. 

Howard was moved by the amount of detail involved with each piece in the exhibit and the amount of time Hurd took to create each one (2 to 3 days, the artist revealed).  “From seeing artwork that represents lifestyles, how we grew up and even just seeing artists like Perrion doing his thing, I think that’s a testament for other creatives and kids that it’s possible to do all that stuff,” Howard said. “I feel dope to be represented and aspects of our life being on display.”

 As much as Hurd modestly challenges the impact his work has on the Black community, making light of his accomplishments— the painted banners topping the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, his community mural of Harriet Tubman in Hot Springs, his 2022 Governor’s Arts Award and the several other murals and public art pieces spread across areas of Central and Northwest Arkansas—there’s no denying the waves he’s created to reach younger Artists. “It really feels good to be able to be a positive influence,” Hurd said, back in his studio. “I’m human. I suck, too, but I try not to put that suck part out there. If I’m going to be out in the community, I want to definitely be a positive driving force.” 

Driven by his grandson and his renewed emphasis on children in his art, Hurd wants to do more than create. He plans to become a substitute teacher in the Little Rock School District to directly connect with kids. This desire also shapes his artistic ambitions, as he hopes to have his work featured in a museum’s permanent collection. “So that I can talk to the youth,” Hurd asserted. “And explain to them, ‘You can do this [if] I’m doing it.’” 

“Innocence Unveiled” highlights the happiness and possibilities of childhood. It also shows how strongly Hurd believes in the power of showing diverse stories and faces.  It reaches back through time, touching the countless versions of Hurd that exist within his own multiverse, healing and inspiring them. But it also transcends his story, affirming the impact art and life can have when people see themselves represented in it.  “It’s like the saying goes,” Hurd shared. “They’ve got to see themselves to believe that they can do whatever they want to do. And they need that encouragement from the older generations.”  Perhaps this is Perrion Hurd’s ultimate gift: a legacy of inspiration, a bridge across time where art and life conspire to tell every child, “Yes, you can.”