Arthur Monroe (b. 1935, Harlem, NY d. 2019, Oakland, CA) was a respected artist, educator, community activist, Abstract Expressionist painter, and known for his involvement in the Beat Movement of the 1950s. Committed to his abstract expressionist roots, his approach to self-expression and his search for new visual truths can be seen through his labor-intensive process— at one point spending three years on a single painting. Unlike other painters, Monroe worked like a scientist: going through a myriad of questions before arriving at a hypothesis. He approached his materials as a challenge; the more he worked with them, the deeper his appreciation for them and what they might do.