Fulton Leroy Washington is a self-taught artist with a unique ability to express human emotions.

Fulton Leroy Washington aka Mr. Wash is a self-taught artist, an educator, and a public speaker. Wrongfully convicted in 1997 for a non-violent drug offense, Mr. Wash learned and refined his craft in oil and acrylic while serving a life sentence, the mandatory minimum that had been set during the era of the War on Drugs. On May 5, 2016, after he had been incarcerated for 21 years, President Obama commuted Mr. Wash’s sentence and granted him clemency.

Mr. Wash’s has the unique ability to express human emotions in the form of paintings. His first subjects were his fellow inmates; he created elaborate photorealistic portraits of his cohort from all around the world, often setting them in idyllic landscapes, dressed in civilian clothing and free. Other portraits depicted the inmates' psychological fissures, including large tears drawn on their faces; some portraits were adorned with paintings within the paintings of fears or anxieties the subjects had shared with their portraitist. 

In 2020, Mr. Wash was selected as one of 30 artists to participate in the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. biennial, where he was also the recipient of the Public Recognition Award. His exhibited works have been acquired by U.S. museums and national and international collectors.  Most recently Mr. Wash’s work has been featured in a solo show, Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset (2024), at Jeffrey Deitch in Los Angeles, as well as group shows including Black American Portraits (2022) at LACMA. Mr. Wash’s exhibited painting of Kobe Bryant was acquired by the museum with funds courtesy of Aubrey Drake Graham a.k.a. Drake.

Mr. Wash continues to work daily in his Compton, CA studio, infusing his creativity and storytelling into every work of art. He continues his work as a criminal justice reform advocate by way of his 501(c)(3), Help Us Help Wash.