ATLANTA — For Atlanta native Landen Prather, art is in his blood.
Prather uses every bristle of a paintbrush to pour his blood, sweat and tears into his art and paints a vivid picture that showcases the many beauties of life.
Prather, 39, fell in love with art when he was five years old in 1990. He used to sit in his room all day long drawing and painting. Growing up, he won several awards for his art and paintings. That gave him the confidence to know he could create art at a high level.
“I didn’t watch a lot of tv, so I would draw and paint and create all the time. I would ask my mom if I could draw something I liked and she would say ‘of course you can,’” he said.
Prather loves being a “student of history” and being an innovator inspires his creativity.
However, as much as he loves art, he quit when he was 25. He says he was battling depression and other challenges in his life during that time. He did not rediscover his love for art until years later when he met his wife, Marissa.
Instead of waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, Prather says his wife was the light who guided him through the darkest part of his life.
“My wife is my north star,” he said. “She is the one who brought me out of this darkness, and she is the one who is pushing me. Some people like to say behind every man is a woman. For me, she is beside me. She is the bright light in my life.”
Prather uses art as “therapy” and is working to remember his value as an artist and creator.
In December of 2022, Prather and his wife Marissa opened the Landen Prather Fine Arts Gallery, which is located in Villa Rica.
Prather said the purpose is to give emerging artists a chance to showcase their art within a gallery system and outside of a gallery system.
“Through that process, I started getting inspired. I started getting better. Believing in art every single day was amazing.
That created a much-needed spark in Prather to get back into being a part of art galleries again. Prather had his first solo show in May 2024 titled, “Out of Darkness.” To rent event space in the Landen Prather Fine Arts Gallery, click here.
Prather, alongside his wife Marissa, and business partner and friend Robert Lawrence, created Art Emerged, which is is artwork that comes to life through storytelling. Prather said he found purpose in telling a story behind the art. A lot of times, people have different meanings behind art and that inspired the concept.
Prather makes curated experiences for different athletes, individuals and musicians including hip-hop icons T.I., Big Boi, Jermaine Dupri, Big Gipp, Killer Mike, and music icon Erykah Badu.
“I’m trying to bring new experiences to the world. We innovate every single time we create a new piece,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s about honoring that person or that entity, and telling a story. I don’t want to do it unless it has a story and a purpose.”
Prather said the legendary DL Warfield is among his favorite artists.
“He inspires me because of his work with designing the Outkast album cover to “ATLiens,” Prather said. “I’m a big Outkast and Dungeon Family fan and I know thousands of their songs in their catalog word for word. I grew up with that music and I would play that while I’d draw and paint, even during that time when I wasn’t painting, that stayed the soundtrack.”
Prather manifested his vision of having an art show at Stankonia Studios in 2023.
He said in 2023, Stankonia Studios was having a writing camp and he asked someone if they were interested in having an artist who draws and paints what happens in the studio. At first, Prather said they didn’t understand his visions.
“Musicians are inspired by physical artists and artists are inspired by musicians. I thought, “what if we were in the same room and we co-create,” he added. “They allowed me in the studio while they were in there making a song from scratch. They were in there for 10 hours. It was intimidating. I was watching other artists create and translate those skills into how I paint and draw.”
Prather created art that honors icon Rico Wade, who he described as the “architect” of southern hip-hop.
“If you dig in his crates, you’ll get his influence and what he created,” he added. “I made a painting called the “Architects of Algorithm,” and did it frame by frame to make him move and presented it to his family. They loved it and that is something I’ll never forget. It was a blessing.”
Prather encourages everyone to chase their dreams.
“Everything great that is happening now came off the heels of something horrible,” he said. “If you see its worth it to keep on living, the magic of the world can show up. I am living my childhood dreams right now. When I was going through a challenging time, there is no way I would have believed that I would have a wonderful wife, my children, and that I would be a professional artist. I JUST had to keep on going. Don’t think that anything is impossible.”
You can view more of Prather’s art on his social media page, or website here.