For this artist, portraits of black lives matter | Kevin Riordan

O'Neil Scott was at Target in King of Prussia when he got the call. A well-known art collector had just walked into a Cape Cod gallery and bought the artist's self-portrait.

Scott, who grew up in Camden, played football at Syracuse, and taught himself to paint, had never before shown his work — let alone, sold a canvas.

"Until then," he said, "it was just me, painting in my basement."

Two years later, Scott's dramatic, lushly realistic, and very much of-the-moment work is being shown in Manhattan and in the homes of collectors in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

His portraits, often depicting young men or women of color in emotionally charged settings or poses, invite — or perhaps, dare — a viewer to look closer, and learn more. Black Lives Matter, the Women's March, "Don't Shoot" and Colin Kaepernick  are among his recent subjects, and art-world media are taking notice.

"What I saw in O'Neil's self-portrait — that first painting he sent out into the world — was the hand of an artist with the talent, the gift, the magic,"  said Carolyn Kramer, who owns the Jo Hay Open Studio gallery in Provincetown and stumbled across Scott's work on Instagram. It was Kramer who called the artist, whom she now represents, with news of his first sale in 2016.

I learned about Scott from friends who live in Merchantville and visited Jo Hay in Massachusetts last summer. That's how I came to meet him in  his West Chester studio, an orderly space where several compelling portraits-in-progress command attention.

"I want my paintings to say something,"said Scott, 36. "There's nothing wrong with a pretty painting. But I want my paintings to have a deeper meaning and speak to a broader audience. Sometimes the meaning slaps you in the face and sometimes it's hidden. And it's not necessarily political."

Scott was born near Kingston, Jamaica, in 1982 and came to the United States with his parents at age 5.  After his father died, Scott and his mother moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Camden's Parkside neighborhood.

He sketched superheroes on the dining-room table of their Haddon Avenue rowhouse, played football in the nearby Old Camden Cemetery, and met other Marvel Comics-obsessed boys while attending Hatch Middle School.

"We made up our own comic books, like 'Ten Hulks vs. Wolverine,' " Scott said. "All we did was try to outdraw each other."

Scott was a Brimm Medical Arts High School freshman when he met art teacher Marianne Dell, whose classes he attended all four years. He  described her as "a large influence on me pursuing art."

Said Dell, who retired in 2013 and lives in Washington Township: "O'Neil had a skill in drawing that was beyond what any other kid in the class had. Seeing his work, it was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is so fantastic.' He has a gift."

Brimm did not have a football team, so Scott played for the city's Woodrow Wilson High School and got a scholarship to Syracuse, where he played for four seasons. He planned to major in art and took a number of courses there, but ended up earning a degree in information technology, a field in which he continues to make his living as an analytics quality manager.

"I never stopped drawing," he said. "And about three years ago I taught myself to paint. I read books, I listened to podcasts, watched videos. The first oil painting I did was of a bread basket. Then I did a portrait of my stepfather."

Kramer would like to see Scott "stay in the studio and paint for a year and develop a body of work he can present to competitions, and apply to get into juried museum shows, for museum exposure."

The artist plans a series of empowerment-themed paintings, as well as work that will reflect his youth in Camden, such as the many hours he spent playing after-school football in that Haddon Avenue graveyard.

"The empowerment series will be about African American heroes, who we are and what we've gone through," Scott said. "It's going to be interesting. I can't wait to get it started."

As our interview ended, it occurred to me I hadn't asked him about his unusual name. Was he born Scott O'Neil and changed it later?

"No," said the artist. "O'Neil Scott is my birth name. People always ask me that question."

But if Scott's career continues to rise, the day may come when the art world — and perhaps the world — won't have to ask.