Leondre Lattimore just made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Art & Style list, and the recognition feels overdue. His work isn’t about art-world theatrics, it’s about restoring the Black Oklahoman stories that history conveniently misplaced.
Lattimore ’s paintings pull from real people and real memory: ancestors, communities, overlooked narratives, and South-Central histories that rarely make it into museums. His style is figurative, intimate, and rooted in place, not nostalgia, but reclamation.
Born in Oklahoma City with a background in Studio Art, Graphic Design, and a Master of Public Administration (because apparently one degree wasn’t enough), he now also manages public art for the city. Meaning he creates the work and helps shape the spaces it lives in.
What makes him stand out is how seamlessly he blends past and present. His canvases feel like living archives, bold without being loud, regional without being niche, and historically grounded without lecturing you.
Forbes might have put him on the list, but Leondre Lattimore ’s work was already speaking for itself. He’s building a record of who has been here all along,finally framed on their own terms.
Text by: Wika Soto-Hay
