A star is rising in Oklahoma City and is being celebrated on the national stage. Leondre Lattimore has quickly been making a name for himself both as an artist and as an integral part of Oklahoma City’s public art community. Lattimore has collaborated in the Thunder Artist Group, recently participated in panels hosted by the OKMOA and Oklahoma City University and was just named on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Art and Style list.
“My life is a story of things just falling into place,” Lattimore said. “I don’t have a choice but to allow that to continue happening.” Like many artists, Lattimore has been drawing since childhood, though he did not explore painting until high school. Born and raised on OKC’s Eastside, Lattimore graduated from Millwood High School before attending Oklahoma City University, where he received a degree in Studio Art. Coming from his predominantly Black high school, OCU was something of a culture shock for Lattimore, even though it is just a few miles away from where he grew up. “I was actually the only Black male in the art school at one point,” Lattimore said. “I was around a lot of talented artists that inspired me, but I noticed no one was creating work that I could really relate to. I wasn’t trying to make my Blackness the center of my art, but I’m inspired by my own life experiences and Black culture. My work began to reflect my community.”
When Lattimore graduated from OCU, becoming an artist was not in his immediate plan. He received a master’s degree from OU in public administration, thinking he might enter politics or government, as he has a passion for policy and social issues. On a whim, Lattimore applied for a job with the city in the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, which he called a “happy marriage between my love of art and my master’s degree.” His primary role is to manage the city’s 1% for Art Program, where one percent of the city’s construction budget is allocated for public art. Lattimore works with artists from around the country to install new and exciting public art throughout the city. “I want us to be known for having a really great art scene.”
And Lattimore is definitely adding to our city’s great art scene with his oil paintings, which he works on nightly after leaving his day job. His current work has a Western and rodeo theme, with some of these pieces included in the current exhibition Framing the Frontier on view at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame through April 25. “I don’t consider myself a cowboy or Western artist, but I like to think of those as a part of a broader story that is Oklahoma. It’s something that makes our culture unique.” Lattimore uses his own photography to capture images that he then incorporates into his oil paintings. Using radiant colors and often simple, contrasting backgrounds, he is able to bring his subjects to life so that the viewer is immersed in the scene. “I try to capture an authentic moment of people just existing,” he said.
Lattimore is a scholar and quite obviously loves Oklahoma, which is evident with every new painting he creates. “I want people to feel a connection to me in some way, knowing there is always a story behind everything I paint,” he concluded. “I have been learning more about the history of arts in Oklahoma, especially the jazz and blues of the ’20s and ’30s. I would love to tell more stories of the talent that came before me.”
