Hebru Brantley

Straddling the worlds of fine art, street art and hip-hop, name-dropped on many a rap song, and collected by the likes of Jay-Z and LeBron James, Hebru is a painter, sculptor and designer. He first gained attention as a graffiti artist, tagging walls with colourful depictions of "Flyboy"-a child donning aviator goggles-all over the Windy City. Fast-forward to 2021 and his creations, profoundly influenced by Disney and Japanese Super-Flat, are now in museums, as well as in 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-affirming, Brantley's work not only attempts to normalize images of black children at play, but in his creation of black superheroes, even suggests an entirely new mythology in a cultural landscape often devoid of positive examples. This book will feature the breadth of Hebru's work so far, and is the first monograph on his work. Set out in two parts, this work will examine both the fine 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 Monthly.