The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2025 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Gee Horton
Artist / Founder at Gee Horton Studios Gee Horton StudiosFine ArtBio
Born in 1983 in Louisville, KY, Gee Horton is a Cincinnati-based, self-taught artist whose practice explores portraiture, memory, and cultural narrative. His highly detailed photorealistic drawings examine the complexities of Black identity, adolescence, and emotional inheritance, weaving personal and collective histories into visual reflections on resilience, vulnerability, and self-discovery.
In 2020, Horton left his corporate career to fully embrace his artistic calling. That same year, Horton initiated the Coming of Age chapter series of portrait drawings, received ArtsWave’s Truth and Reconciliation Grant, and launched The Baobab Project—a conceptual extension of the series designed as a reflective space for Black men to explore vulnerability and coming-of-age experiences through visual storytelling. His work has since gained national recognition, featured on HBO’s Insecure and Amazon Prime’s Harlem. He received an Emmy Award for his residency at The Mercantile Library of Cincinnati, where he created a monumental portrait of Black abolitionist Peter H. Clark, the library’s first African American member.
Horton’s large-scale charcoal and graphite drawings serve as meditations on Black masculinity and psychological landscapes. His 2021 debut solo exhibition at Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery examined African American adolescence through the lens of contemporary culture and hip-hop, elevating the dignity and complexity of youth navigating a racialized world. In 2022, the Cincinnati Art Museum acquired his work. His exhibition, Chapter 2: A Subtle Farewell to the Inner Child—part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial—expanded this conversation through photography, collage, and film, inviting viewers to reflect on identity and healing.
His solo exhibition, Chapter 3: Be Home Before the Streetlights, opening at KMAC Contemporary Art Museum in 2024, deepens his exploration of generational memory, safety, and reconciliation. Divided into two sections—The Great Outdoors, referencing the cautionary wisdom passed down in Black households, and Ova Granny’s House, evoking familial warmth—the exhibition transforms personal archives and collective memory into an immersive meditation on Black youth, home, and belonging.
Beyond the gallery, Horton redefines public art as a site of communal reflection and empowerment. His Coming of Age mural series, commissioned for the BLINK Festival and other public initiatives, spans multiple blocks across Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine district, celebrating the beauty and complexity of Black youth.
Horton describes his work as “an intimate tapestry woven from lived experience, spiritual revelation, and ancestral wisdom.” His artistic practice was profoundly shaped by a transformational 2022 residency in Senegal, where he engaged in diasporic healing traditions that continue to inform his exploration of lineage and selfhood. His work is held in collections including the Cincinnati Art Museum and The Mercantile Library. A 2023 Cincinnati Business Courier 40 Under 40 honoree, Horton holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Louisville, grounding his practice in deep insights into human behavior and intergenerational trauma.
In 2024, Horton was recognized as a Creative Ohio Semi-Finalist for CreativeOhio’s Champion Advocacy Awards and honored by CODA Summit as a 2025 Creative Revolutionary. His short film, Be Home Before the Streetlights, was awarded into the 2025 OTR International Film Festival, marking a significant milestone in his expansion into cinematic storytelling. The film also functions as a visual extension of his ongoing exhibition trilogy.
Horton is also the founder and owner of Gee Horton Studio Gallery, located in Cincinnati’s historic Over-the-Rhine district. More than a workspace, the gallery serves as a creative hub for artists, a platform for exhibitions, and the headquarters for his fine art in-house printing service, which provides museum-quality prints for local artists and ships to collectors globally. This space is an extension of Horton’s mission—to create, cultivate, and elevate artistic voices while fostering deeper engagement with storytelling and visual culture.