Thursday, September 23, 2010

NEW ART FOR TULLMAN COLLECTION BY HEBRU BRANTLEY "AMONGST THE HUSTLE" FROM LYONS WIER GALLERY


From the absurd and blatant to the subtle and subversive,

Hebru Brantley’s work explores the stereotypes and racist

propaganda found in American mass media, such as early

Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons. What emerges is an

intelligent and vivid deconstruction of America’s social history

and the chilling possibility that we have all in someway been

infected by the same subliminal, racially insensitive media virus.


Brantley’s subjects are often cinematic, gleaned from

“Blaxploitation” films and science fiction thrillers. His spraypainted

and stylistically brushed canvases show the influence of

Romare Bearden, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and

Black Folk Art. The raw emotion and youthful expression in

Brantley's work depicts themes of race like an open unhealed

wound. The characters in Brantley's art, such as his “Coon

Toons” series, reveal our shared past co-mingling with our

present consciousness and sensitivities.


How should we deal with our racial history and all the artifacts

that come along with it? Do we bury the offending materials and pretend it never existed or do we

inject the materials into the ongoing public dialogue about race and racism in America? These

questions serve as both impetus and fodder for Brantley’s work. The magic and mythology of

childhood animation meets a fitting analysis, through a young artist whose critical eye dismantles

the soft power of this “entertainment.”

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