Marvin Gaye

Donovan Durham (1961–2016), a self-taught painter and draftsman, considered art making an essential mode of communication from an early age. Living successfully with disabilities, the artist spent most of his life in Pennsylvania before moving to Minnesota in the late 1990s. After settling in St. Paul, he joined Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, an organization dedicated to supporting artists with disabilities. Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2005, he was invited to make a series of lithographs and color monotypes at Highpoint Center for Printmaking. A fan of the classic Motown sound, Durham created a series of highly expressive black-and-white portraits of some of his favorite R&B performers from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, including Anita Baker, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations.