Langston Allston - December 2025
For the month of December, we are turning our spotlight over to Langston Austin, (@Langstonallston) a painter and muralist who is originally from Champagne Illinois and based in New Orleans. Langston would always draw when he was a kid and make sculptures out of telephone wire. He didn’t really begin painting seriously until college. He was also very interested in comics as his father owned a lot of them during his childhood. He would also watch Dragon Ball, Z and would trace the characters from the TV. He says that you need to have specific capabilities and a functional space in order to fully delve into your creativity, so it wasn’t until after he graduated that he felt more comfortable painting on a serious platform.
Leaving college, there was a lot of navigating where he wanted to go next as an artist. Many ups and downs, but ultimately leading him to New Orleans. He was contracted to do a mural and ended up trading the work for room and board. He has since lived here for the past 10+ years. He says that living here inspires his creativity with every day life the culture and the colors that he uses. Langston also draws inspiration from other artists and they are different styles. Diego Rivera, Kerry James Marshall, and Lucian Freud are a few he listed, but there are many books in his studio that he reads to gather a better understanding on an artist. He considers himself a student of the craft and continues to learn more about art so that he can grow.
Langston recalls multiple moments in his life where he saw important shifts in his creative process. One being before moving to New Orleans, where he specifically did black and white. Another point being when he would go back to color and focus more on different hues. He also recalls his time in LA being a very important, and life changing moment for him. He learned that he needed to be more vocal in the things he wanted to do and not have a very humble and “grateful to be here” mindset. A curator once asked him what he wanted to do next. At that time he did’t have the vocabulary or confidence to deliver a concrete answer. He says that time time in his life was very groundbreaking for how he looked at his goals and what he wanted out of them. He has had his work in multiple galleries in New Orleans and Los Angeles. Some being the CAC, African-American museum, and space gallery in LA. Going forward Langston says that he has spent a lot of time thinking about the day-to-day, but now considers the future in his thought process. There are still things that he wants to accomplish so he has to not only focus on his projects currently ,but remember what’s next. If you are looking to learn more about Langston and his work, you can follow his Instagram and go on his website.
“Nobody can help you if you’re not telling them what you’re trying to do” - Langston Allston
