O'Neil Scott Paints The Beauty in Fragmented Memories

 O'Neil Scott at Zillman Museum for "A Journey to Distant Memories | "Hurricane Andrew" (2024), Oil on Canvas, 72 x 60 in | Courtesy: Dom J. Lizotte

By BYRON ARMSTRONG January 18th, 2026

“Identity” doesn’t work as some static, black and white idea of what it means “to be” you. It’s a constantly evolving and layered collage of lived experience that can even, at times, paste several different incongruent memories together. Fragmented memories, when confused with legitimate emotions tied to them, can seem as real as the hardened edges of a diamond. They are the cubic zirconia of personal histories that still inform who we are. But is the accuracy of fugazi memory more important than the very real emotions tied to them? Philadelphia-based artist O’Neil Scott paints what he sees, remembers, and just as important, what he feels. His practice is a profound excavation of “self” that travels through the fractured lens of childhood migration, family and cultural histories, and the dual consciousness of an American artist who is one with the Jamaican diaspora. As identity can seem an exercise in contradictions, so can Scott’s artwork; his contemporary hyper-realistic portraits in oil paint are heavily influenced by the works of old masters, and are as much about internal psychological landscapes as they are about external social commentary.

Scott’s artistic origin story is rooted in his birthplace of Spanish Town, Jamaica. His first rendezvous with art came not in a museum, but in the familiar confines of his home, watching his uncles and his grandfather, a local architect, sketch and draw. “It runs within my family,” he explains. He discovered early on that drawing and sketching helped him listen, process information, and achieve better grades. “It’s this interesting thing… I have a better time of remembering or understanding what’s going on around me,” he says. This fusion of art, memory, and cognition became the bedrock of his future work. His path to a professional art career was anything but linear. He would move between Jamaica and the U.S. throughout his childhood, eventually settling in Camden, New Jersey, facing Philadelphia on the other side of the Delaware River. The talented athlete and artist took a football scholarship at Syracuse University, attracted by coaches who seemed as interested in seeing his art portfolio as discussing plays. Yet, the rigid schedules of Division I football and demanding studio classes proved incompatible. Faced with a choice, the young Scott, dreaming of the NFL, “dropped my art classes and took up business and IT instead.”

O'Neil Scott's "Fading Promises" (2025) at the Zillman Art Museum show "A Journey to Distant Memories" | Oil on Canvas. 72 x 60 in. Courtesy: Dom J. Lizotte

For years, art persisted only as a private, necessary release. “It was challenging, to be honest…without drawing and painting,” he admits. His return was intentional, fueled by pure need. He took life-drawing classes at Philadelphia’s Studio Incamminati, rebuilding his technical foundation. The professional breakthrough came unexpected: he posted his first major oil painting, a powerful self-portrait critiquing corporate and racial identity, on Instagram. A gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts, saw it, and the piece sold in minutes. This serendipitous event, guided by the mentorship of gallery director Carolyn Kramer, “was my gateway back into a professional art career.” Scott is now represented by Tanya Weddemire Gallery in Brooklyn, NY located in Industry City

In preparing for his first major museum show “A Journey to Distant Memories” at the Zillman Art Museum (2025), he realizes that some of his most foundational memories were fragmented.  “So many of our memories from the past felt lost,” he reflects. In conversations with his mother, he found narratives he held as truth were sometimes “partial” or “conflated” with others. This revelation is central to his paintings, embracing fragmentation in narrative and form while blending Old Master techniques with the emotional intensity of Abstract Expressionism. The figurative elements are grounded in a contemporary reality that centers friends and family members within fractured memories; Scott’s mother is the focus of “Fading Promises” (2025), a work that invites the viewer to relive his mother’s migratory journey.  “In Case of Emergency” (2024), also focuses on the deeply personal memories of how the Black church acted as a sanctuary for Scott and others, a fragment of personal memory that honors the community that raised him. We lived directly across the street from the church in Camden,” explains Scott. “They had a free after-school program, and my siblings and I would go there right after school. They took care of us like an extended family.” Noting the difference between the museum and art fair formats, Scott points to “a pressure-free space for pure artistic expression.” 

O'Neil Scott, "In Case of Emergency"(2024) at Zillman Art Museum | Oil on Canvas. 72 x 90 in | Courtesy: Dom J. Lizotte
 

Scott’s intention is that  “The viewer should finish up the composition in his work,” Scott states. “It’s not fully formed… because that’s how we think as people. Even our memories…everything’s fractured.” This philosophy is vividly realized in works like “Hurricane Andrew” (2024), where a younger relative becomes the stand-in muse for childhood anxiety; the work navigates Scott’s experience of duality Jamaican and American cultures, while also capturing “the nervous energy” of his beloved island as it braced for the hurricane’s impact. “We Will Rebuild” (2026), further demonstrates the connective thread of memory that breathes throughout Scott’s work. In the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, Scott was driven to speak to the island’s history of resilience and community despite the challenges of systemic neglect. As with all of his work, he focused on the positive over despair, celebrating the enduring strength of the Jamaican people and their will to rebuild. 

Late 2025, Scott had the opportunity to showcase his talent at the National Gallery of Jamaica’s “One Nation New Symbols” exhibition, which was about contributing his diasporic viewpoint to the contemporary Caribbean dialogue. “I still identify very closely with that heritage, and the work is very much about how it remains a part of you,” he says. The work he exhibited, “Magic and a Little Luck” (2024), reflects on the convergence of skill, history, and good luck that shaped his trajectory, layering art historical references like Picasso with personal symbolism that examines an identity forged between two worlds. It asks the simple but universal question, “How did I get here?” 

O'Neil Scott "We Will Rebuild (2025), Oil on Panel. 24 x 18 in | Courtesy: O'Neil Scott

Recent showcases have solidified Scott’s presence in the contemporary art scene. His presentation at SCOPE Art Show Miami with Tanya Weddemire Gallery was a milestone, bringing his large-scale, tactile paintings to the kinetic atmosphere of a major fair. He notes the unique value of such an event. “The amount of new eyes that get to see the work is incredible.” Those “eyes” got to take in works like “Peace” (2025), a portrait of a Black woman in golden armor sipping coffee from a shiny cup while chaos erupts around her. This work speaks to the “psychological armor” developed through living the Black experience. “It’s about how what we’ve experienced as Black people has made us stronger as a people, so there’s a sense of peace or calmness we’ve adopted through hard times because of that.” For Scott, there’s a value in being an artist who engages with the political. “I don’t think you can be a Black artist and not be political or social in some form,” he says. That said, his social consciousness leans toward affirming positivity versus the traumatic.

O'Neil Scott at 2025 Scope Art Show (L to R): "Breathe" (2025) Oil on Panel 60 x 48 in. "Peace" (2025) Oil on Panel, 60 x 48 in | Courtesy: Tanya Weddemire Gallery

Looking ahead, O’Neil Scott is preparing for Expo Chicago and a return to Miami Art Basel at the end of 2026. Still, he continues to seek out space to experiment and learn. “I want to ensure that I take some time off to do a few residencies,” he says. “2025 was jam-packed, and I want to experiment and continue to build my practice.” It will be interesting to see what that evolution will yield, considering how layered the work already is. “Through a language of realism he brings forward narratives that speak directly to social realities, confronting history, culture, people, lived experience, and the urgent issues shaping our world today.” says Weddemire. His practice exudes an extraordinary level of discipline and commitment that bridges memory and the beautiful complexities of his identity, while providing an open invitation to the viewer to reflect on their own. WM