(Best in Show)

Robert Selby
Colored/White, 2016
Oil on wooden door

Robert Selby of Colton, New York has observed that “despite the election of Barak Obama, the first president of color, this nation has yet to come to terms with the legacy of slavery and segregation. Racism confronts America like a closed door. We have made progress, but we are not truly free as long as doors remain closed. My diptych, Colored/White takes Negro Leagues baseball as a theme because our ability to overcome barriers intersects profoundly in this uniquely American pastime.” A self-taught artist whose illustration career began at a newspaper, Selby has taught at Rhode Island School of Design and University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, among others.