African American artists from opposite coasts reunite in Oakland

The artists Charles Bibbs and Al Johnson first met 20 years ago, but working on different coasts — Bibbs in Riverside, and Johnson in New Jersey — they weren’t often able to intersect. Then three years ago, Johnson discovered Facebook. “Thanks to social media, Charles and I see a lot of what the other is doing,” he said from his studio in Montclair, N.J. “We share a lot of fans.”

Both create colorful, celebratory images of African American life, though Bibbs’ lively ink-and-acrylic portraits (sold primarily as digital ink-jet prints) lean more toward illustration, while Johnson’s mixed-media paintings blur the line between representation and abstraction. Both want to reach as broad an audience as possible.