Anel Jean Baptiste Jr.

“When it comes to the land of 80’s creativity let’s all be there when we’ve got the touch! Cause with art pictures and projects from that retro decade you’ll love it so much.” - Anel Jean Baptiste Jr.

Anel Jean Baptiste Jr. describes himself as part Andy Warhol, part Bob Ross. The multidisciplinary artist and self-described “80s correspondent” uses drawing, sculpture, video, and puppetry to revisit and revamp his favorite era with fervent devotion. 

Anel, who is a member of YAI Arts, was born in Brooklyn in 1981. Though he was alive for most of the 80s, he couldn’t fully appreciate them, being a kid and all. In adulthood, he’s become not just an artist but a time traveler and 80s missionary. His subjects aren’t the decade’s typical big names, but rather the unsung heroes you might have flipped past on TV or driven by irl: the Coronet Brothers from the Juvenile Discount Furniture TV ads, Crazy Eddie and his electronics store, the old Amaco gas station on a corner in Crown Heights. Anel’s work depicts the 1980s as it could only exist in retrospect: exalted, eroded, and always handmade.