TONY NERO

During our PAOS Open Studio Artists exhibition, held at the Peterborough Cathedral Visitors Centre in 2018, I decided to work on a charcoal drawing as part of my live art demo.

I chose to do this drawing of Ras Daniel Heartman, as a tribute to this Jamaican artist, who blew me away during my teens with his charcoal drawings. At the time growing up and seeing his work on record sleeves and T-Shirts, I was amazed how anyone could draw like that with charcoal. I myself had started a career in designing record sleeves/vinyl album covers and was inspired to develop my pencil work. At the time there weren’t many black artists to look up to, however, Ossie Murray was another black artist who inspired my paintings.

To me Heartman was a master craftsman who also brought a lot of life and passion to his craft. This drawing is my tribute to him, and only fitting that his portrait should be drawn in charcoal.

JEREMY JOHNSON-LEMIEUX, JAH SUNNY

I dont know if I can really put into words the inspiration I have received as an artist from the man known as Ras Daniel Heartman. As a young man seeking spiritual truth while cultivating my natural inclination for drawing people, i discovered the art of Ras Daniel in books like “The Rastafarians” by Leonard Barrett, and the covers of so many crucial Rasta reggae albums. 

His ability to add soul and life to his portraits expressed so much humanity and energy giving me a high standard to aim for.  The goodness, the sweetness, and the power of Rastafari people is seen in all its grace and beauty in the precise strokes of Ras Daniel's hand to paper.  I cant give enough thanks to this amazing Rasta for helping me to channel just a sliver of the talent he had.  May JAH Rastafari keep Ras Daniel in His Mighty Hands!

EMILY STEELE, STEELE ROOTS

There often aren’t words for the emotions his work can bring forth, just as there often aren’t words for the influence he has had on not only myself, but many artists he paved the way for in the world of roots and culture and Rastafari art. I feel a deep connection to his works for personal reasons and am forever in awe of his many master pieces… Ras Daniel Heartman himself has been the subject of some of my favorite personal pieces featured here… I give mighty thanks for the artistic guidance and inspiration along my way.

DAVID WILLIAMS, RAW PENCIL

As a youth in Jamaica growing up, I liked to draw and I would see Ras Daniel Heartman’s drawings around in shops and music venues. I was always inspired by them. As i got older and more familiar with Rastafari these images took on a deeper meaning, and i saw that apart from Bob Marley,  these were the only representations of Rasta people on a high level.

As I grew closer and closer to Rastafari and even to this day, Ras Daniels art remains a marker of the level Rastafari manifestation should be on. As simple as they may seem they carry immense power and depth, not easily captured through portraiture.  And as I learn(ed) more about the man himself through those who knew him, the works carry even more weight now. Authentic and real as ever.

ABBA YAHUDAH SELLASSIE

“It is said that one man’s terrorist is another man’s revolutionary. Yet, if we should ask what makes a revolutionary? The answer is most definitely wrapped up in a specific cause and how that cause in itself affects other people and the environment. All of our heroes are individuals that are living or have lived a life of devotion to something that they truly believed in. They are almost always people who lived in their passion and who are often sacrificed for a greater good. These are rare individuals who are courageous enough to live in the consciousness of themselves.

Lloyd George Roberts, commonly known as Ras Daniel Heartman, was such a man. A father, a self-taught artist, and an actor is one of Jamaica’s most famous fine artists and is definitely one of the most plagiarized.  However, he is best known not for his acting but for his skill with a pencil, and was to become the vanguard for what can be called “Rastafarian art.” He is arguably an international icon whose creative influence spans far beyond his own generation affecting today's minds even more than he was able to do with those in his own lifetime. 

I grew up in Jamaica with his art as a major inspiration, and although I was just a child, I could recognize him as one of the great artists of our time. It was easy to encounter his art, which was sold as prints in gift shops and bookstores all over the island, as well as on numerous album covers. I was instantly mesmerized. I could see myself in him not only as an artist but also as a Rastafarian. Heartman’s conceptual compositions were simply riveting and I fell in love even deeper with the idea of being a Rastafarian whose art speaks to the conscience and the soul simultaneously. Heartman’s ability to capture minute details while avoiding the feeling of looking over-worked or super-photographic was particularly intriguing. By this l mean that Heartman was able to skillfully duplicate anything he saw with remarkable precision but managed to maintain an organic feeling and texture that separated his drawings from hyper-realism. He was nothing less than a master of his craft and a genius in his own right; a trait that I immediately recognized in his technique as an artist. 

The bulk of Heartman’s works were done in charcoal or graphite and depict local subject matter mixed with his pan-African visions and aspirations. His self-portraits are striking, as well as several portraits of his children, often times captured in his self-portraits. He had portrait requests from such personalities as Jamaica’s world renowned artist and art historian Edna Manley, and the cover of the island’s first telephone directory was also done by him. Prints of “Prince Emanuel,” (aka Rasta Baby) and “Princess Desta” could be found in every gift shop and craft market on the island, and t-shirts of his works were worn by the Wailers. Today many people on an international scale uses his artworks in various ways but 95% of these users are outright plagiarists. Whenever people take a liking to something, and when that something touches them so deeply that they feel connected to it in the most intimate way, they usually feel like it belongs to them. However, while it may appear that this is a form of glorification, in reality, it is stealing from the artist and is, according to legal standards, a federal crime. Ras Daniel Heartman is a victim of such crimes, and it is necessary that we, as admirers of his work, take stock and assess the situation to assist in the process of the preservation of his legacy.

MONIQUE DELATOUR

Bob Marley came to New Zealand / Aotearoa in 1979 when i was a young teen. This was when I first saw the artwork of Ras Daniel Heartman. It was on the T-shirt of one of the wailers band members. I never knew what he looked like, but I was inspired by his illustrations and knew his name from the signature on his art. I painted a Rasta Man from a 1960's NatGeo Magazine when I was in my teens not knowing it was Ras Daniel (as he wasn't named in the image). In 2009 after a series of visions/dreams I drew the same image in pencil. These dreams led me to his sons Ato and Man-I. It was then that I learned the man I made art of was Ras Daniel, the artist I was inspired by. Ras Daniel, was a gifted Rastafari visionary who will always live on in my heart and inspire me in everything I do.