50 for 50: Trei Ramsey
“50 for 50: Trei Ramsey” presents works from Trei Ramsey’s *Precocious Kid* series at Touchstone Gallery. The colorful, whimsical pieces explore serious and often overlooked perspectives on the shared environment, using paintings, drawings, sketches, and multimedia works to consider how surroundings shape the experiences of marginalized communities.
Ramsey began the series in 2023. His ideas may originate in a book, a news story, or an everyday walk, as well as from objects such as light bulbs or televisions. After reflecting on the emotional effect of an environmental influence, he develops its visual form through sketches. The series’ central character is a child with large eyes symbolizing innocence and influence, locs arranged in a Fibonacci spiral, and a head enclosed by a square. The square represents the child’s constrained mental space and references the archaic slang term for an outsider.
When: Wednesday, September 30 through Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Showtimes: The page lists the exhibition period from 12:01 p.m. on September 30 through 3:00 p.m. on October 7.
Reception: September 30 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Artist: Trei Ramsey
About the artist: Ramsey is a self-taught multidisciplinary visual artist who lives and works in Washington, D.C. His powerful, colorful, and playful practice draws on Saturday morning cartoons, mythology, comic books, and Western art history. He aims to create work that speaks to groups that are often ignored, while exploring shared human experiences. His broader goals are to uplift and educate viewers and to demonstrate that art and artmaking are accessible and important to everyone.
Exhibition background: Ramsey has shown his visual art since 2018 in solo and group exhibitions at galleries and arts organizations throughout the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region, including Homme, Thundershark, Touchstone, Strathmore, and Washington Studio School. He holds a BFA in theater from Howard University.
Series: The exhibition is part of *50 for 50*, a Touchstone Gallery initiative inviting 50 community artists to present work during 2026 in recognition of the gallery’s 50th anniversary.
Venue: Touchstone Gallery, 901 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Tickets: Price not available