ML - Michigan Avenue

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

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times we hung out, you came into my studio with a big bag of books, and it was Christmas. To now have enough work that I can be good enough to be shown in that light, I figure why not? It's just that time. The whole focus of the book is more Flyboy-heavy; I didn't want to put a lot of different works in there or different feels. I wanted to kind of streamline it and show the progression over the years and my career, but not to give people too much variation. You look at other art books—you might have a van Gogh of just him and his selfies, like all his self- portraits, or a Picasso book just on the women he painted or his Blue Period—so with this being my first attempt at it, I wanted to keep it very palatable. WJ: Speaking of the city, what are your favorite hangouts food-wise, shop- ping-wise, hangout-wise, what have you? I know you love Soho House. HB: I only have a few spots…. Food-wise, I love Au Cheval; that's the one that comes to mind right away. You know, otherwise, when I do get out of this shell that I live in, just around the city in the summertime, I do enjoy just really any point at the lakefront. I do have a real sort of favorite spot, which is the lake at 31st Street, but it's not the same anymore—they changed the whole landscape. But yeah, man, lakefront. And then other than that, whatever comics shop or bookstore I can sneak into. What's that spot in Wicker? WJ: Myopic Books? HB: Yeah, Myopic. WJ: And you've got to go to Quimby's. They've got the graphic novels and t he zines—Quimby's is a litt le more current and edg y. Go to Quimby's, man. Tell them Lupe sent you. HB: [Laughs] For sure. WJ: How do you think the city has inspired you or inf luenced your work? HB: It inspired me because Chicago is definitely the cit y where I landed. Starting my career here, I expected a lot of opposition, but it really wasn't that. Again, I think I'm honest in my doings and in my work, so I think that the city has responded to that. I'm Chicago through and through, and I think that sort of shows as well. Chicago embraced [me], so I always will show that love back. It helped mold and shape who I am and what I do. WJ: What is your proudest moment? HB: This one's tough because, again, you obviously have moments like your child's birth, marriage, whatever, but this one pertains to my career. This is what I got for you. Right before my father passed—my father was a businessman, my father was… everything was black or white. It wasn't gray; it wasn't a color in between. So he was my last living parent, and he was also the parent that wasn't supportive of my career choice. For him to be on his deathbed, to tell me he's proud of me, to sit and talk with me about my art and the fact that he had paid attention to certain pieces, certain decisions I had made… He basically told me in so many words that he was in awe of the talent that I had because he didn't know where the hell it came from. It definitely didn't come from him—these are his words. For me that's a huge accomplishment because that was a huge struggle in my career, in my path, in my life. So to get to that point, I got my father who loved me all the same because I was his son, but I got my father to believe. That's it. WJ: That's a beautiful gift right there, brother. That's real beautiful, man. HB: Thank you, sir. WJ: Where will you be in 10 years? HB: Ten years is a long time away. [I'd like to be known as] a respected, well- established visual artist. A maker of many things. A filmmaker. A visionary. Dare I might say—though I am not this person, names might be thrown around— like a young, or a more ha ndsome, black Wa lt Disney. [ Laughs] A more handsome, African-American Jim Henson. So again, the greater vision is yet to come and to bring that world forth to people in different mediums, not just painting. This is the start, and the end result will be in different forms. We'll see, man. It's a lot to do. I'm trying to get busy, to get to work. WJ: Thank you. I appreciate you, man. HB: In all sincerity, you already know you're definitely my bro and inspire a lot of what I did and do. You blazed that trail first, and I thank you for it. It's the synerg y. MA Hebru Brantley in his Chicago studio. Behind him are his pieces (FROM LEFT) Spilled and Stained (Last Time I Saw The Sun She Burnt The Back Of My Neck), both from his Negro Mythos Series, and Tignon Law #2. MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 109

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