Fayetteville artist who gifted J. Cole with a drawing hopes to inspire others

Through finding his love for art in his hometown, a Fayetteville man aims to inspire others from his home. 

Shelton Wilson, 33, who goes by Samod, grew up watching shows like "The Joy of Painting," a show featuring painter Bob Ross teaching viewers how to paint, and "Reading Rainbow," an educational show that was on PBS, which somewhat kickstarted his artistic interest. 

"I used to see all the different colors and stuff," he said. "I remember just tracing all the time … From there I was like, all right, well, I'm going to try to figure this out, and so I've just been drawing ever since." 

American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat has been another inspiration for Wilson. As a homage to the famous artist's crown symbol, Wilson incorporates a crown in some of his paintings. 

Wilson is also a fan of fellow Fayetteville native J. Cole. A drawing he sketched of Cole's album cover "Forest Hills Drive" he was able to give to him in 2014. After giving the sketch to J. Cole, Wilson posted a picture of the two of them holding the drawing to his social media accounts. It garnered a lot of attention. 

"I drew that picture up and hoped that he would like it," Wilson said. "Not only was it for exposure, but it's just for the love of the artist that came from exactly the same city." 

Wilson's paintings depict aspects of Black culture. With many of the paintings being of women, Wilson said he was thinking about his mom, grandmother and sister as he painted. 

"Music is talking crazy about females, so I was like, let me create something that inspires them," he said. 

Wilson sells his artwork on his website samodwilson.com, which has been his primary occupation. He also does some freelance marketing.  

Wilson said one of his most popular pieces was of a nurse that he painted at the beginning of the pandemic.

"I created that painting with the nurse and the mask on because they was the only ones out really working at the time," he said. "So I was like, man this is powerful. I just want to show them in a superhero light." 

Wilson studied business at Fayetteville Technical Community College and marketing at Fayetteville State University. His educational background is what has helped him expand his art beyond Fayetteville. 

"With the art, I feel like I'm an artist, but I'm more of a business guy," he said. "I feel like if you know how to sing, you know how to paint, you should continue to do that. Now, how you use it is why I studied business because I really want to be able to reach more people and just inspire them." 

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Wilson has more than 15,000 followers on his Instagram account @paintingonpurpose where he posts pictures and videos of his artwork. 

Wilson now uses his artistic abilities to give back to his city whenever he can whether it's letting people use his artwork at an event or live paintings at poetry events. 

"A lot of times I do events here and that's just me giving back," he said. "When you come from a place like this, you want to give to the people. It force you kinda to want to give back because you understand." 

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Staff writer Akira Kyles can be reached at akyles@gannett.com.