Born in Guyana and currently living in California, Kareem is a highly dynamic and genuine artist who has been exhibited in the San Diego Museum of the Living Artist . “As an Abstract Painter, I am forced to create images and patterns with selfless authority. These images develop from an imaginary concept of reoccurring visions [...]

When I arrive at painter Kareem Ralph Amin’s studio in San Diego, the first visual key to his life that he shows me isn’t a painting – and isn’t a drawing. Rather it’s an old inkjet-printed photo pasted onto a piece of tag board. In the shot, an 18-year-old Amin is sitting at a desk, headphones on, beaming a puckish stare into the camera. Beside him, his best friend Dwayne Adams – earnest, at attention and clutching his leather bookbag – plays the sidekick and foil. Both are waiting for their technical drawing class to begin. “He was always the quiet one and I was the rudeboy,” Amin chuffs, using the reggae slang to mean a Mr. Popularity type. “I was in the forefront of getting all the attention.” The shot was taken in Georgetown, Guyana, where Amin, now 32, was born and raised by his father and stepmother. At age 20 he…