ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 4 - Summer - Art of the City - Hebru Brantley

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H ebru Brantley is an artist on the rise. Since first garnering attention in 2012 at the Scope Art Show (a sister event to Art Basel Miami Beach), the South Side native's g raffiti-inspired contemporar y works have been exhibited in L A, London, New York, and at Art Basel Switzerland; he has done work for Nike, Adidas, and Swiss watch brand Hublot; and celebrities like Jay Z and Beyoncé, Lenny K rav it z, George Lucas, a nd even Mayor Ra hm Ema nuel have a ll become collectors of his paintings, which conjure a world of optimism, hope, and youth empowerment. As Brantley recently prepped for the release of his coffee-table book And We'll Drift Away, he chat ted w it h fel low Ch icago a r t ist a nd Grammy-winning rapper Wasalu Jaco—better known as Lupe Fiasco—about his passion for cartoons and comic books, his proudest moment as an artist, and how the city of Chicago has molded and shaped him. Wasalu Jaco: What's good, my brother? Hebru Brantley: I'm chillin'. How about you? WJ: Man, I'm good. No complaints, man, no com- plaints at all. So let's jump into it. How did you first get exposed to art, and what was the first piece of work that inspired you to say, 'I want to be an art- ist'? And do you remember t he f irst t hing you created out of that? HB: To start, it was cartoons, comic books—that was my first relatable art form, and as a kid growing up, [I was] drawing and redrawing cartoon characters over and over again, which brought me to graf- fiti culture. From graffiti culture I arrived at high art and an understanding of high art, and that came by my mom putting certain litera- ture my way, certain books, and introducing me to Pop Art at an early age. From that, it was looking at an artist like Jean-Michel Basquiat and how primal and, at first glance, simple his work is. T hat 's sor t of like t hat cat a lyst ic moment w it h you ng creat ives —he is t hat person for a lot of us, especially for African Americans. I don't necessarily remember that first painting that did it, but I do remember creating an appropriation of a Roy Ayers album cover—it was basically Roy Ayers and his band looking down into the camera in a circle, and then an all- seeing eye looking down upon them. I did a piece like that in my own style. I had a few friends in the music industry, and one of them was DJ Drama; at the time he was starting to get his accolades and respect and a little money. And he was one of the first people who was, like, "I really dig this, and I want to buy it." And that might not be the exact "aha" moment, but that's the one I think that sticks with me right now—seeing that I could make this, more than just being passionate about it and loving it, and be an actual working artist. WJ: It's interesting that you reference Basquiat a lot in your work, but there's also a relationship between you and Roy Lichtenstein in the sense of using comic book characters. It always comes back to that idea of the superhero. What is important about the superhero for you? HB: It's just like you. You're an incredible lyricist and artist, but you're not rap- ping about selling drugs or killing people, because that's not what you did. I feel like those who are great at what they do are always true to who they are. I can only paint what I know. I appreciated the stories of the comics. I appreciated the cartoons. I also just appreciated film, and I appreci- ated storytellers. So being able to express myself and how I feel through different characters, it's just me being true to who I am. I'm a tall, black nerd. I appreciate a great deal of many things, as you know. We've sat and talked about everything, from music to film to litera- ture. And I appreciate all those things, and I want to bring that out in my work. WJ: Talking about the characters, a lot are chil- dren. Let's focus on one—Flyboy, who's pretty much your marquee, almost your brand, almost your Nike swoosh— HB: My Mickey Mouse. WJ: Your Mickey Mouse—even greater. Let's ask about Flyboy. Who is he, more importantly? HB: Flyboy came out of characters of color within pop- ular culture. I hate saying "popular culture," but it's really popular culture. I mean you look at cartoons. You've got animated sponges and ducks and birds and whatever, and it's very rare to see a popular character within any medium that is African-American, Latino, even Asian. What I wanted to do was create that, but in a space of high art and be able to have some historical context to that character. So I looked at the Tuskegee Airmen, who were fighter pilots in World War II. They f lew successful missions and they never lost a person. But at that time black folks were treated far less than equal. For me, it was important to have that histori- cal context to a character, not to just have one for the sake of needing one or wanting one. As far as it being a kid, it wasn't necessarily a plan from the outset to create a childlike character; when I create, a lot of times I don't see kids. I really don't. I just see them as people. There's a sense of innocence there, but there's also a sense of all the other things we go through. What a kid might go through on a playground in certain ways might parallel what a guy goes through in a board- room in a job day to day. WJ: You have a coffee-table book coming out this summer. What's the story and the inspiration behind that? What can we look forward to with that? HB: I've wanted to do a book for a while. For me personally, one of my favorite things ever in life is coffee-table books and books with pictures. One of the first "It's very rare to see a popular character that is African- American, Latino, or Asian. I wanted to create that, but in a space of high art and with some historical context." — hebru brantley Fade Resistant (Whisper), 2014.

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