Reginald Sylvester II is a Black-American artist best known for abstracted compositions that are formed through the process of finding, rather than spontaneously generating images. Back in July of 2021, Sylvester presented an exhibition, titled “With the End in Mind” at London’s Maximillian William gallery.

The exhibition explored abstraction as a form of representation, not of the body but the spirit. Conceptually, this presentation hinged on the artist’s interest in abstraction as refusal: a refusal of easy readings, categorizations and conclusions.

Published by InOtherWords, the accompanying artboook invites the reader into Sylvester’s creative process. The works are nestled within a cyclical flow of the artist’s mantras, which give insight into the spiritual and conceptual underpinning of the resulting artworks. Also featuring a text by Allie Biswas contextualising the artist’s use of Readymades within a history of Black American artists transforming manufactured objects into art with a political consciousness.