Available original work
Original abstract paintings for sale.
Bring home a layered, mixed-media painting by Detroit artist Dawud Shabazz. Every available work is one of one, made to keep revealing itself in the life around it.
A direct connection
Choose work with a life of its own.
A painting can do more than complete a wall. It can change the pace of a room, hold a memory, and become a point of return through the day. Dawud Shabazz creates original abstract paintings for collectors who want that kind of presence in their homes, workspaces, and shared spaces.
His paintings begin with attention rather than a fixed formula. Acrylic, enamel, sand, glitter, and textured elements build into surfaces that shift as you move around them. There is color to meet from across the room and detail to discover when you come closer. The result is work that stays active in the space without asking to be explained all at once.
Buying directly from the artist keeps the experience personal. You can explore the work at your own pace, look closely at the available pieces, and reach out when you want to talk through scale, material, or feeling. The right painting is not always the loudest one. Often, it is the one that keeps finding its way back into your attention.
Selected paintings
Made for the long look.
Explore a selection of available original work. Each piece has its own scale, surface, and energy.
The material matters
Layer by layer, the painting finds its way.
Dawud's process leaves room for discovery. Paint, grit, sheen, line, and color build over time, allowing an early idea to change as the surface develops. That openness is part of what gives the work its movement. No two paintings arrive at the same answer, even when they share a family of colors or a starting point.
Mixed media also gives the work a physical presence that a screen can only suggest. A field that looks quiet in a photograph may carry a grain of sand, a flash of enamel, or a raised edge that catches light differently in the morning and evening. Collectors who enjoy work that continues to unfold often find that material depth becomes part of the attachment.
The paintings are made in Detroit, shaped by a lifelong relationship with the city's creative energy and by influences including Charles McGee, Judy Bowman, Ed Terrell, Richard Mayhew, and Kerry James Marshall. You can learn more about Dawud's artistic path and see where the work has been shown through his exhibition history.
For your space
Let the room help you choose.
Start with the feeling you want to live with. A calm field of blue may give a bedroom or reading space more room to breathe. A work with a stronger red, gold, or gestural mark can bring warmth and momentum to an entry, dining area, or creative workspace. You do not need every color in the room to match. A painting can create a welcome contrast and make the whole space feel more considered.
Scale matters because it changes the relationship. A smaller work can reward close attention in a hallway, beside a chair, or above a desk. A larger painting can become the center of gravity in a living room or gathering space. Before you decide, measure the wall, think about where you will stand when you see it, and give the work enough room to be encountered.
It is worth taking your time with the images, then listening to the piece that remains in your mind. Original art is not a replaceable purchase. When a work continues to feel right after the first glance, that response is usually more useful than a long list of rules.
Browse the Full CollectionWhy original work
A painting you can keep discovering.
When you choose an original painting, you bring home the marks, decisions, and material presence of the artist's hand. The surface is not a copy of something made elsewhere. It is the place where the colors met, changed, and settled into the work you are looking at. That history gives an original a kind of quiet singularity. It belongs to the artist's practice, then becomes part of your own life and space.
Abstract art is especially generous over time because it does not ask for one fixed interpretation. A work can feel energetic when the room is full, then more reflective when you meet it alone. A line, an edge of color, or a textured area may become more noticeable as the light changes or as your own life changes around it. That is not uncertainty. It is the ongoing exchange that makes living with art rewarding.
For many collectors, the story behind a painting matters as much as the first visual response. Dawud was born and raised in Detroit, and his work has been shown in spaces including the Charles H. Wright Museum, Irwin House Gallery, The Carr Center, and Flatlanders Art Galleries. Choosing a painting from an artist whose path you can follow gives the work another layer of meaning. You know where it came from, who made it, and the creative life it continues to support.
There is no need to arrive with a perfect vocabulary or a fully formed collection plan. Bring your eye, your room, and the feeling you hope to create. Start with one work that feels present, then let the rest of the collection grow at a pace that feels true to you. The most lasting collections are built from attention, not pressure.
The work does not need to resemble everything you have chosen before. Sometimes the piece that gives a room its clearest voice is the one that introduces a new color, rhythm, or point of view.
A collector's conversation
Ask before you bring it home.
Choosing original art should feel considered, never rushed. Contact Dawud to talk through a particular painting, a wall you are working with, or a feeling you want the room to hold.
Contact Dawud
Frequently asked questions
About the collection.
Are these paintings original?
Yes. Each available work is an original mixed-media painting created by Dawud Shabazz. The collection does not offer reproductions in place of the listed originals.
How do I purchase a painting?
Select a work to see its purchase details and current availability through Dawud's existing store. If you would like to ask about a particular piece first, you can contact Dawud directly.
Can I ask about a painting before I buy?
Yes. Collectors are welcome to reach out about a work's scale, materials, presence, or whether it may be right for a particular room. A thoughtful conversation is part of choosing original art.
Does Dawud create commissioned paintings?
Yes. A commission begins with the room, dimensions, color, and feeling you want the work to carry. Visit the commissions page to begin that conversation.