Ferrari Sheppard was born in Chicago in 1983. 

Blurring the lines between abstraction and figuration, the contemporary emerging artist Ferrari Sheppard creates mid to large-scale paintings incorporating figures depicting the Black community in the States and within the diaspora. The Los Angeles based artist with Ehtiopian origins was born in Chicago but lived in various cities around the world and notably in Africa. His paintings are influenced by his travels evoking a sense of nostalgy.

His brushstroke is dominated by creams and whites as well as Black skin tones adding splashes of color. The large acrylic color, charcoal, and enamel on canvas paintings entail a sense of movement through the colors and brushstroke used, allowing the viewer to feel immersed in the painting. Sheppard's work stands out through his expressive approach, adding scratches, drips, an irregular or unfinished touch, giving a sense of active movement to the viewer and incorporating evocative titles to make his viewers attentive of his deeper meanings. Portraying nostalgic scenes of children playing, parents or adults in their everyday activity with no apparent facial features, these simple sceneries through Sheppard's abstract lens take on an air of complexity. The abstraction is intentionally placed in the paintings subtly exposing social and political misinterpretation, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. "Abstraction is a way of not having to reveal everything, of not having to show your hand, in card-player's terms. It's important to understand and communicate through the work."

In some of his works, Sheppard incorporates gold leaves adding a religious iconographical effect throughout his pieces, catching light and accentuating the presence of certain figures in his work. His painting Bond (2020), through its composition of mother embracing her child and the use of gold leaves has a strong religious overtone. The combination of charcoal and acrylic with a gold leaf is particularly eye-catching and highlights the biblical metaphor in this painting. In another of his works, Scribes (Study II) (2020), for example, the use of a sheet of unbroken gold leaf accentuates the to two central figures, two children sharing a book.  

Inspired by his peers Jean-Michel Basquiat and Willem de Kooning, overall Sheppard creates unique artworks in a very distinctive style. Sheppard  has travelled extensively and lived in various cities in Africa. The artist has been featured as a guest lecturer at various universities and cultural institutions across the United States, Canada, and Ethiopia, including The African Union in Addis Ababa, and Harvard Law. 

He lives and works in Los Angeles