About

Karim Mikal Alston was born in 1978 and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. After moving to Sugar Land, Texas with his family in the late eighties, he excelled in athletics throughout his childhood and set a goal at age 15 to become a world-class track and field runner. He was awarded a scholarship into the prestigious University of Houston (UH) track and field program under the guidance of veteran coaches Tom Tellez, Mike Takaha and Howie Ryan. Alston began to understand the possibility of human potential while training daily alongside Olympic medalists (i.e. Carl Lewis, Frank Rutherford, Leroy Burrell, Mike Marsh, Floyd Heard, etc.) and elite international and professional athletes alike. In 1998, under the new leadership of Head Coach Leroy Burrell, Alston was offered the opportunity to become captain of the team – a position which he gladly accepted. Alston is the first undefeated Conference Champion in the history of both Conference USA and the University of Houston, an unprecedented honor which awarded him a spot on the Conference USA All-Decade Track and Field Team (1990-2000). During his tenure at the University of Houston, Alston was a seventeen time gold medalist in conference competition. He led his team to eight Conference Championship Team titles, earned All-American honors while also earning a B.B.A. in Finance from the Bauer College of Business.

Shortly after college, Alston gained new inspiration for sport and community by coaching at various private and public schools within the city of Houston. He continued excellence with his alma mater by presiding over the UH Young Alumni, serving as a member with the UH Black alumni, hosting various tailgate and support events for Cougar athletics, all while increasing social activity in downtown’s surrounding communities and neighborhoods. In 2003, after purchasing his first home, Alston decided to create his own paintings opposed to buying art from retail. A new creature was born.

 

Alston received many compliments and praise while showing his work to business establishments and private collectors around the city. He took studio refuge in the 2005 opening of the Elder Street Artists’ Lofts, a community brought to life by ArtSpace.org, to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations. Being surrounded by full-time artists all day, his work began to flourish – as noted by local media and the artists’ community alike.

 

During the summer and fall of 2008, after two long years working tirelessly as a public school educator and youth development coordinator, Alston pursued a more laid back approach of absorbing life: choosing to study art abroad through the medium of photography in the likes of Acapulco, The Grand Bahamas, Costa Rica, Panama, New York and Cozumel. Alston was deeply inspired and influences by the various cultures and deep-rooted heritage of these many regions of the western hemisphere.

 

Alston’s latest paintings begin to introduce several alternative methods of creativity into his latest creations – drip-painting, references to African culture, American pop culture iconography, minimalism, multimedia, primitivism, world currency, and mixed media. In his most recent works, Alston’s paintings evolve with dynamic, figurative abstracts as well as socio-political collage. Alston’s art has been pursued and showcased by corporate and private collectors, entertainers, professional athletes, as well as galleries and business entities from all across the United States, currently taking root in Western Europe and Australia. His creative style is as unique as his personality – loose yet calculated, energetic yet subtle. He continues to work primarily out of his home studio in the outskirts of downtown Houston, Texas.