Courtesy of Buckhead Art & Company
In 2023, a human resources executive with a passion for fine art took a leap and purchased the gallery Buckhead Art & Company, which originally opened in 2016.
“I had always been an art collector and was looking to merge my love of curated events with art,” says Karimah McFarlane, who previously led market human resources for Google’s Southeast division; while there, she drew on her collector sensibilities to select art for the company’s West Peachtree Street building. “I found this space and thought, This is just perfect. It’s in Buckhead, a destination for people from around the world.”
McFarlane’s mission for the gallery is “to make art accessible to everybody and to have difficult conversations with people whose paths wouldn’t cross,” she says. “And let them know that we actually have more in common than we think.”
That mission infuses the thought-provoking exhibitions and performances, community events, and collaborative projects that rotate through the 4,000-square-foot contemporary fine art gallery.
This month, Buckhead Art & Company will host Soul Reflections: Portraits of Presence, a tribute to the essence of Black humanity, intended to spark dialogue about art, identity, and community. The exhibition, which runs June 12 to June 27 to align with Juneteenth, will showcase the work of painter Jeffery Beckham Jr. and photographer and filmmaker Parrish Lewis.
Drawing from Beckham’s collections Kingdom and Crowns and Visions and Dreams and Lewis’s You Got Soul and his “portrait experience” sessions, each piece explores how lived experiences shape our spirit. To foster connections throughout the exhibition, McFarlane will host related programming, including artist talks, screenings of Parrish’s past film work, and a portrait sitting for guests.
Beckham’s paintings from Kingdom and Crowns consider the Black experience through a chessboard lens. “The king and queen rule with purpose, power, and self-determination charting their course and shaping destiny,” Beckham says. “Young people grab ahold of their future, thinking multiple moves ahead. It’s literally the idea that resilience, intellect, and power are required today.”
In addition to portrait photography, Lewis shoots movie posters and billboards for major motion pictures such as Candyman and directs commercials, music videos, and short films. “My genre is having that human connection and preserving special moments,” says Lewis. His portraits for Soul Reflections feature a range of people who have inspired Lewis along his journey, including several remarkable images of dancers: Intentionally blurred, the portraits capture the dancers’ essence, even as they lose themselves in a performance.
McFarlane, who still works full-time in human resources, now with the software company Workday, is as interested in cultivating artists’ careers as she is in showcasing their work. The gallery represents more than 30 artists of diverse backgrounds, each of whom she coaches to “be a full-time artist who knows how to run a business.” She directs 5 to 10 percent of sales to help represented artists cover their supplies and, in 2024, started a nonprofit foundation arm that offers career development workshops, facilitates peer mentoring, and provides financial support.
“My whole goal is to represent you, find people who love you, and help you be the best version of you,” McFarlane pledges to her artists. “My superpower is making connections.”
This article appears in our June 2025 issue.
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