Hebru Brantley

HEBRU BRANTLEY

The rst book on Chicago-born Hebru Brantley, the preeminent African American pop artist of his generation, whose work is hot and in demand in the art world, the fashion world, street style, and the music world.

Straddling the worlds of ne art, street art, and hip-hop, namedropped on many a rap song, and collected by the likes of JayZ and LeBron James, Hebru is a painter, sculptor, and designer.

He rst gained attention as a grati artist, tagging walls with colorful depictions of “Flyboy”—a child donning aviator goggles—all over the Windy City. Fast-forward to 2021, and his creations, profoundly inuenced by Disney and Japanese Superat, are now in museums and branded goods for A Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club, Adidas Originals, KITH, Neighborhood, and a host of other sought-after labels.

At the heart of Hebru’s work is restoring innocence to the depiction of Black youth, often forced into adulthood before their time in the eyes of the law and popular media. Upbeat and life-arming, Brantley’s work not only attempts to normalize images of Black children at play, his creation of Black superheroes also suggests an entirely new mythology in a cultural landscape often devoid of positive examples.

This book features the breadth of Hebru’s work so far and is the rst monograph on his work. Set out in two parts, this work examines both the ne-art and applied-art nature of his work, with both his paintings and his streetwear collaborations receiving pride of place in the design of the book by prominent graphic designer Oliver Munday, currently the art director of The Atlantic.

Hebru Brantley is a contemporary American artist hailing from Chicago and based in Los Angeles. His work is profoundly influenced by anime, pop art, grati, and Afrofuturism.

ART

256 pages, 8½ x 11¾" 200 illustrations Hardcover • 9780847872190 $55.00 USD, $75.00 CAD, £40.00 GBP October 11, 2022 Rights: World

RIZZOLI