In our Ones To Watch issue back in January, the Style Observer heralded the continued ascension of Vogue Italia-endorsed, 2012 Bronze Musgrave Medal- and 2015 Aaron Matalon Award-winning mixed media artist Ebony G Patterson — and man, did she deliver! In-the-know peepers glued to the roller-coaster twists and turns of beloved campfest Empire — which returned with 16 million North American viewers, to the FOX airwaves last Wednesday night — would have noticed vibrant portraiture from the acclaimed catalogue of Rock-bred associate professor of fine arts at the University of Kentucky.

‘Its feels great! It means that my work will be seen by a much wider audience, and to be in the company of other artists, like Barkley L. Hendricks, Mickalene Thomas, and Toyin Odutola, and all the other well known and respected international artists included this season, is amazing. To be able to do so as a Jamaican, and as an an artist of Jamaican origin, and knowing that the show is aired locally and is just as popular in Jamaica as it in the USA, is also fantastic. Im so happy to be able to represent ‘us’ on such a widely viewed television programme.’ — Ebony Patterson

The works, which were culled from the artist’s Disciplez series, and explore the thematic paradox between the machismo of the dancehall ‘gangsta’ or ‘rudebwoy’ and his effete — and equally excessive — personal style and grooming à la bleaching, brow-shaping, over-the-top fashions and flashy accessorising, enjoyed deserved prominence in the hit show’s decorative production design. Though, Patterson’s people were aware of the prospect of a Season 2 inclusion, they were pleasantly surprised by the unexpected midweek, visual memo that the artist had, indeed, made the cut. Naturally, SO congratulates…