American Dream Denied (Study), by 2022 Whitney Biennial artist James Little, depicts a progressive linear pattern interrupted midway by a pyramid shape. The linear patterns on either side of the pyramid feature luminous hues, while the color fields surrounding the pyramid, as well as the pattern on the far right of the opposition, are gray tones. Little’s works are fundamentally abstract. However, as in the case of this painting, his titles frequently contain relevant information that could inform the viewer about the subject matter the artist was thinking about while working. Little has spoken out about the expectations audiences have that he Black artists include content in their work relevant to their identity. If the American Dream is liberation, real freedom dictates the artist's ultimate control over what content is in their art.

"I found more opportunity, more self-determination, and free will through abstract thinking," says Little. "Free will and self-determination are very important. So I determine what goes into my work."

Little is a 2009 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painting. In addition to being featured prominently in the 2022 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, his work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including at MoMA P.S.1, New York, NY; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC. Upcoming solo exhibitions include Homecoming: Bittersweet, at Dixon Gallery & Gardens: Art Museum, Memphis, TN, with an accompanying catalogue, and at Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, in 2022. In 2022, Little will also participate in a historic collaboration for Duke Ellington's conceptual Sacred Concerts series at the Lincoln Center, New York, NY, with the New York Choral Society at the New School for Social Research and the Schomburg Center in New York, NY. His paintings are represented in the collections of numerous public and private collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; DeMenil Collection in Houston; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Maatschappij Arti Et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Holland; Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Tennessee State Museum, Nashville; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; and Newark Museum, Newark.