When the world is not enough.
When the world is not enough.
When the world is not enough.
Then, Nevermore.
Hebru Brantley is an inventor of worlds. While his primary medium of choice over much of the past decade has been painting, Brantley has used much of the space in his canvases to create an alternate universe where Black culture is centered with provocative energy and playful, elegant sensibilities. From collaborating with Nike or Hublot to having his work collected by renowned celebrities like Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and LeBron James, Brantley has a distinctive style that evokes feelings of wonder, intensity, and longing. But to get to know Hebru Brantley, or experience his work with a sense of authenticity, you have to go to his hometown of Chicago, IL, where he has achieved first name recognition among the art community and casual fans alike.
To step foot into someone’s home is to be confronted with a certain level of intimacy. An encompassing self-portrait. You see the obvious but are also aware of the secrets of the space. The memories hiding from you in plain sight. The messages meant for only those who can see them. To set foot into Hebru Brantley’s 6,000 square foot “Neverworld Park” installation in Chicago is to experience a similar moment via proxy, courtesy of characters Flyboy and Lil Mama—the little boy and girl who have come to dominate the artist’s aesthetic over the last several years. Clad in oversized aviator goggles that serve as a nod to the Tuskegee Airmen, Flyboy and Lil Mama are the premise on which Neverworld exists; this universe is part of their origin story, but it may be the easiest peek into a bit of what inspires Brantley, the artist and the man.
There are a handful of Hebru Brantley murals that adorn buildings in Chicago, and with a little luck—and a local guide—you can see most of them on an easy Sunday afternoon drive around the city. The murals complement what many have come to know of the artist via his commercial work, with Flyboy, Lil Mama and their peers doing ordinary things that kids do, but with attitude. Brantley often puts them in motion, defiantly, seemingly in some aspirational or self-reverential pose or action that projects a confidence that might not exist among the real boys and girls of his Southside Chicago roots. We see Lil Mama and Flyboy as heroes, in races, and in flight… Black bodies as agents of change in their own reality.
The gallery paintings presented as part of “Nevermore Park” continue this theme, with Brantley showing our principal characters in familiar places and poses. (A painting of Lil Mama sitting atop a rocket above the word “STUNT” is a standout). Yet, walking past these works to the back of the gallery gives way to the real treasure: a passage that leads to the crux of the “Nevermore Park” experience—a spaced-out alternate reality world that represents the thematic home of Flyboy and Lil Mama. There’s a newsstand with dozens of imaginary newspapers and real vintage JET magazines; a workshop area with tools and gadgets seemingly leftover by an inventor in media res; the larger-than-life walk-in sculpture of Lil Mama’s head that has the chorus of singer Aaliyah’s “One and a Million” playing on repeat, and a similar-scaled version of Flyboy’s rocket that gives the viewer the allusion of hurling through space while standing in the cockpit.
We see Lil Mama and Flyboy as heroes, in races, and in flight… Black bodies as agents of change in their own reality.
Floyd Hall
There are other rooms, spaces, gestures, signs, and objects all over “Nevermore Park,” most of which feel placed and positioned with an immense level of intentionality that simultaneously serve as visual candy to the uninitiated and subversive messages to those in the know, beckoning all viewers to consider how this constructed universe is juxtaposed with Chicago, of Chicago, and still manages to push back on the gravity of the city itself.
Hebru Brantley’s Nevermore Park is open until December 29. For more information, visit https://nevermorepark.com/.
Floyd Hall is a media strategist, cultural producer, writer and documentarian from Atlanta, Georgia. His professional work often relates to the intersection of art, media and technology as platforms. As an artist he is interested in the process of how we come to define and design ourselves, and is passionate about how history, culture and art blend together to construct narratives of place.
