Meet the Philly artist who counts Shaq, Kevin Hart, and Brooke Shields among his fans

Long before the work of Justin Wadlington was placed in world-renowned gallery spaces, and he had Shaquille O’Neal, Brooke Shields, Kevin Hart, and other celebrities on his client list, the Philadelphia-bred artist learned to master another medium: the art of perseverance.

By 2009, Wadlington was worn by the grind of his 9-5 airline job, and it had been five years since he picked up a pencil and sketchpad. But a trip to Cancun reignited his artistic flame. Inside his job’s break room, he began sketching an image of a figure enjoying a beachfront, with a photograph of himself in the Mexican city as a guide.

His coworkers glanced at his work and were in awe of his abilities. That was enough for Wadlington to renew his pursuit of making it as an artist. “I made a promise to myself: get back into this and see what you can do with it. And ever since then, I kept trying to push the limits.”

As a kid, Wadlington submitted sketches of X-men characters to his school’s drawing competition. His high school teachers were some of the first to spot his artistic talents, and they placed his work in the building’s auditorium for a mini art show. “Back then, I knew I could draw, but I didn’t think it was special,” Wadlington said. “I just knew I could draw cartoons, but I never knew it was something beyond a hobby. I didn’t look at it as a passion, but it was.”

Growing up in Southwest Philly, survival was his main focus. His artistic pursuits fell to the background.

At 5, he accidentally ran into a piece of metal sticking out from a wall, and the devastating blow left him blind in his left eye. Wadlington’s mother struggled with mental illness and was later murdered in 2004. His father, a Vietnam War veteran, died by suicide when Wadlington was 2 years old. His grandmother raised him, but when she could no longer care for him, he was in and out of group homes until he was old enough to live on his own.

He enrolled in the Community College of Philadelphia in 2001 but dropped out after one semester. “Nobody was around as successful artists, so I felt like I had to get a job,” he said. “I looked around, but I knew Disney wasn’t going to hire me.” He worked up to two jobs a week to make ends meet, and over time, the desire to become a sought-after painter disappeared.

That moment in the American Airlines break room led him back to his creative path. Wadlington, inspired by England-based hyperrealist artist Kelvin Okafor, began sharing his detailed drawings of hip-hop artists and cultural figures on social media. Soon, he would put down the drawing stencil for a painting brush.

He was “self-conscious” about his left eye for a while, but the 40-year-old artist says it’s become one of his “strengths.”

“When I was younger, sometimes people would make fun of [my eye], and I used to feel some type of way about it,” he said. “But once I got older, started taking life into my own hands, and embracing the negativity, I began to show it more. I no longer hid it behind sunglasses.”

He took on the moniker Blind Eye Artist as a “reminder that I’m embracing something I was once ashamed of.”

As he refined his style on canvas — detailed images of pop culture icons, athletes, and artists against a Renaissance-style backdrop — Wadlington began gifting his work to high-profile entertainers, including Amber Rose, Joe Budden, and others. In 2017, one of his friends said they could get him in touch with Kevin Hart, so the artist worked on a portrait of the comedian for weeks, and was able to send him a large-scale painting.

Struck by the detail of Wadlington’s work, Hart posted the portrait on his Instagram. “Your talent in your craft is ridiculous man. I’m humbled by your gesture. ...This is the true definition of a #DopePic,” his caption read.

The post caught the attention of Shaquille O’Neal, who asked Wadlington to draw a portrait of him. In February 2018, the artist flew out to Los Angeles to hand the 7-foot NBA Hall of Famer the portrait, and another painting that paid tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. Impressed by Wadlington’s talents, Shaq introduced him to New York-based art investor Glenn Fuhrman.

“I got the sense pretty quickly that he was a pretty special guy and definitely different and also a super talented artist,” Fuhrman said, “and that was really the beginning of a great relationship.” He and Wadlington quickly formed a mentor and mentee relationship.

With Fuhrman’s guidance, Wadlington began showcasing his abstract paintings in New York gallery spaces, schools, and museums, including the New York Academy of Art and the South Hampton Art Center in Long Island. His life and artistic journey soon struck Philly filmmakers Ashwin Chaudhary and Jonathon Korn of Juice Groove Films.

The two filmmakers wanted to make a short film around the Philly-based artist, but, Chaudhary said, the film quickly turned into a full-length feature. “He was larger than life when I first met him,” Chaudhary said. “Off the bat, his journey and how he got to where he is was just so compelling.”

The documentary, titled Blind Eye Artist, was primarily filmed between 2020 and 2022 and captured Wadlington’s roots in Southwest Philly. The film was released on Amazon Prime in October. “To witness the power of his art in transforming his life, it’s a story that will motivate anyone who wants to accomplish anything in a creative medium of any kind,” Korn said.

In the years he’s been in the art world, Fuhrman said many have fallen to their vices and life traumas. Wadlington, he said, could have easily fallen in the same trap. But because of his hard work and dedication to the craft, he’s never let it happen. “He’s got a great combination of talent, passion, and belief in himself that I think the sky’s the limit for him,” Fuhrman said. “I think he can go very, very far on this path that he’s taking.”

While he’s still carving his path, Wadlington said he wants to continue expanding as an artist and push the boundaries on all creative levels.

“I want to do impossible stuff, and I want people to see that they can do impossible stuff, too, regardless of where they come from or if they’re blind in one eye,” he said. “This is bigger than me, and I’d be doing people a disservice if I stopped going.”