September 22, 2022 • 36 mins
Hebru Brantley is a well-known artist, designer, and filmmaker. He is one of Chicago’s fastest-rising artists, some of his works commanding upward of $100,000 and a rapidly growing collector base that includes entrepreneur Swizz Beats, Matthew Pritzker, Jay Z, and your host, Tanya.
He comes onto the podcast to talk about how he got into art, the creation of his iconic Flyboy & Lil Mama characters, and the importance of committing to the art rather than the financial value of a piece.
Host IG:@itstanyatime
Guest IG: @hebrubrantley
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by Master Card, bringing
the wealth gap together with green hey money movers, welcome
back to money moves, the daily podcast determined to give
you the keys to the Kingdom of financial stability, wealth
and abundant our next guest is a well known artist,
designer and filmmaker. He is one of Chicago's fastest writing artists,
(00:23):
with some of his works commanding upwards of hundreds of
thousands of dollars and a rapidly growing collector base that
includes entrepreneurs such as Swiss beats, Matthew Prinster, Jay Z
and yours truly, I'm really proud to say I own
a piece of Hebrew Brantley's, one of his incredible fly
boy pieces. So I am so excited to bring you
(00:45):
to the money moves podcast today and share his work
with the world. Welcome to the PODCAST, Mr Brantley. How
are you? I'm great. Thank you really good. Well, I'm
overjoyed to have you on the podcast. I have been
um diving into art for the past probably decades, seriously
trying to, you know, build a collection and learn about
(01:06):
art um so really excited to have you on the
podcast today and I want to start off by introducing
you to our money moves audience and talk a little
bit about how you got your start in the art industry. Um.
I know there's some people on here. They are gonna
be super excited because we're based in Atlanta and I
know you went to Clark Atlanta. Um. So let's let's
(01:26):
start from there. I went to I went to Clark Atlanta.
I studied film, Um. And you know, while I was
in school I was doing a lot of interning with
different directors and production companies, Um. And you know, I
was working in our departments, I was doing storyboards and
things like that. Um. But while I was doing that,
I was sort of putting myself through school by doing
(01:48):
a series of t shirts and uh, you know, clothing,
like hand painted items, and so it's, you know, college students,
most of them anyway, have disposable income. And so we
were set up shop on Clark on Thursday and then
at at Spellman on Friday and and just stuff. And
(02:09):
that really helped, you know, sort of start the business engine,
but also just help me realize that I could monetize
off of off of my creative side, you know, off
of artwork, and so it just grew from there. From there,
you know, I started to really pursue art, find art
as as a potential career and, you know, sort of
(02:30):
learned about the gallery system, learned how to paint, you know,
with different mediums, and you know, it's kind of blossom
from there. What's so interesting is, you know, the more
and more entrepreneurs that we talked to you and have
on this, the big ones, the successful ones, were like,
you know what, I was an entrepreneur from the beginning.
So your days at Clark Atlanta, you were like I
was hustling on the street corner selling my t shirts,
(02:51):
like already, you know, bringing business to art. And I
want our listeners, if anyone has one of those t
shirts from those back in those days, please tag us,
because do you still have those t shirts? Like what
what was the art that you were creating at that time?
It was it was everything. I mean at the time
it was my skin was a really popular brand and
there was like a hand painted on on, you know,
t shirts and a lot of the rappers are wearing
(03:13):
and so I kind of and they were all abstract pieces,
and so I was doing stuff that was a little
bit more detailed, more character based. You know, some abstract
stuff too, but not necessarily, you know, sticking in sort
of in my own lane, not necessarily stealing off of
what they were doing. Um, but yeah, it was, it was,
you know, it's it's it's a, it's a it's sort
(03:35):
of a I've evolved basically from, you know, doing you know,
character based work now, but that's sort of where I started.
It was like a lot of characters, a lot of appropriation, Um,
when it comes to like really famous characters, bugs, bunny, spongebob, etcetera, Etcetera.
So I was doing a lot of that stuff because
that's what sold, that's what, you know, everybody was asking for. Or,
(03:56):
you know, Bob Marley on a shirt or a Tupac
or you know some some, some notable, notable figure. So
comics and anime have played a very big role in
your art. I was, as a kid, a huge comics fans.
I've seen you shout out Calvin and Hobes. I say
that wrong because I'm Canadian. I know it's Tobbs, but
you know what I'm talking about. Um, how how is
(04:17):
your art sort of evolved? You know, you talked about,
you know, bringing in what people wanted so that you
were sort of serving your audience. But talk about, you know,
your true passion for bringing these characters to life. Well,
I mean, I think you know the evolution always starts
with the artist first, the Creator, and I think as
I've grown, so have these characters. So has my understanding
of what higher is, Um, and also how to sort
(04:42):
of bring about different narratives. And you know, how to
use these characters, you know, and and and tell certain
tales and stories and you know, you know, get these
these ideas across. And I think you know it always
starts with the Creator first, and so for me that's
that's always been very true. And, Um, you know I'm
(05:03):
you know, I get bored. You know, you can't, can't
do the same thing every day. Can't be like McDonald's right.
You have to your taste in your Palette. And so,
you know, I think that as I've grown older, like
I want to, you know, not only evolved in my
studio practice, but show that evolution, show that growth within
(05:25):
the work and how the work is presented. Um, you knows,
as it pertains to you know my shows and galleries,
et CETERA. So you know it's it's a natural evolution.
I think, Oh, it's it's some beautiful, beautiful work. So
let's Um, I want to talk about fly boy and
little moment, because this is sort of some of your
iconic pieces that you know started, Um, you know, from
(05:47):
street graffiti to these giant Monolithic pieces that you've seen
installed in Chicago across the world. It's such an interesting
evolution to me and I love them because they're super empowering.
It's kind of like this superpower that you've created for,
you know, black culture as well. Um, talk a little
bit about how you made this brand so successful. It
(06:10):
was by accident, Um, to be honest with you. You know,
it was just, Um, you know, in my early years
of painting and creating, I was, you know, a lot
of the work had had, it was, it was it
was very heavy handed and its approach and it had
a lot of angst and, you know, Um, and that
was a part of who I was, but that wasn't
(06:31):
all of who I was, and I think that once
I started to really lean into the things that I
loved and, you know, really tapping into who I was
at this as a creator, Um, these characters sort of,
you know, came about and it wasn't intended to be
a thing that, you know, had legs. It was like,
let me try a thing and, you know, speak from
(06:54):
a certain you know place and then I'll move on.
And you know as as you do as an artist,
but I noticed that, Um, you know, as people were
coming to these shows, I noticed it was an expectation
to see these characters. You know, they became very you know, Um, uh,
sort of. You know, it became greatly appreciated by an
(07:16):
audience that was both, you know, young and older and Um,
I just noticed that there was something there. So I
continue to just explore that narrative, in those narratives, and
just to see how many ways in which I could
reshape and rethink Um, you know, these creations with these characters.
You know, I mentioned all the time that, you know,
(07:38):
I kind of looked at Um like family circus, peanuts,
Calvin and Hobbes. Folks, you know, if you're a Canadian,
I just say things wrong on this podcast all the time.
But I had every book. I was obsessed. But you know,
with those again, those are very dependent upon its creator, right,
(07:59):
and how the creative feels. And when you look at
like Charles Schultz and the peanuts and how, you know,
a lot of these younger kids were dealing with sort
of adult angst and real situations and and and and
and their way of sort of filtering, you know, that
through and understanding it. I thought that there was a
strength in that and I wanted to take that approach
(08:21):
with high art, you know, because I've never seen that
done before. So that sort of became my way, you know,
Um and and has sort of, you know, lead me
obviously here. But yeah, also what's really interesting and a
lot of our audience always wants to know is, you know,
how we did this, and one of the things that
stood out in the very beginning you mentioned. Hey, I
had to study the business, the business of art, how
(08:42):
you make how artists become famous when they're alive and,
you know, galleries, etcetera. So what was it that you
realized you needed to crack in this industry, because it's
hard to break through, it's hard to get representation, it's
hard to, you know, get your art out there where
people want to buy it. And I don't want people
to think that you, and maybe this could be true,
did you find that you became more famous because your
(09:06):
art started in getting into the hands of people like
Jay Z, you know, big popular collectors, or had you
already sort of cracked the gallery system? No, I mean,
you know, it's sort of a two two part question,
but I think the first part was, you know, playing
in the system, doing the things that I was told
(09:30):
was sort of the right way, you know, and it's
this is the quote unquote blueprint. But then I slowly
found that, you know, listen, there's a million blueprints, right,
there's a thousand different ways to make a house and so, um,
that blueprint wasn't working for me and so I pulled
away from the gallery system and that sort of traditional
(09:52):
way in and created my own system. I really you know,
I'm a huge fan of hip hop and, like I
looked at a lot of guys, guys like you know.
I mentioned, you know, selling clothes on Clark's campus. My
table was right next to DJ dramas you know, and
and drama was selling his mixtapes, and this was before
gangster grills, but he was selling mixtapes. Thinking about that
(10:16):
model of like out the trunk, you know, a lot
of guys like you know, I'm from Chicago, you know,
south side of Chicago. Around that same time, you know,
guys are pumping mix tapes in the streets and it's
this Guy Kanye West, and you're like, who the hell
is Kanye West? But you know, the world soon found out.
But starting at a street level, utilizing what you have
(10:37):
to get what you want. And so for me it
was like I know enough people to Um, you know,
put on an art show myself. I can totally do this.
I can rent a spot, I can, you know, borrow banks,
still ask for, you know, placement here, do this, and
then I control everything. I controlled my narrative, I controlled
my audience and on the whole thing. And so I
(10:59):
really went that way first Um. But with the second
part of your question, I think that like as I
did that and that hustling entrepreneurial spirit I got. You know,
I was fortunate to meet a lot of good people
and people, you know, industry folks and Um, but you know,
I always had a you know the degree of separation
(11:21):
between a lot of these people anyway, Um, and so
you know, I just sort of utilized and called on those,
those folks that knew other folks right to just tap in.
It just became a thing and I think by the time,
you know, I started to get some some some you know,
big names collecting my work. You know, I was already
coming up, but I think that, you know, those folks,
(11:43):
those bigger folks, their audience started to kind of pay
attention to art. You know, a little anthony, the swizz is,
the Jay's, the beyonce's, you know, all of these people.
So it definitely helped, of course, but I don't think
that it was sort of the uh, you know, the
biggest taking point. Yeah, and you know, I mean I
(12:05):
just want to remind our audience what's really interesting is
like this started in college, hustling on tables and you know,
oftentimes I think people are like, Oh, I need this
mentor I need someone at the top to pull me up.
It feels like, you know, you talk about Dj drama.
You guys all sort of built up together. So I
also want people to understand the people around you helped
build you in your present day. It's not always like, Oh,
(12:27):
you know, I reached out to Barack Obama and he
showed my art. You know, you you came up with
the people that were around you, whether they were selling
mixtapes brailing art, and I think that's a beautiful thing.
About how we really build and build success in this community. Yeah,
I mean at the time, you know, I didn't. Again,
we talked to the blueprint method, the mentor method. I
didn't I didn't have those people around me because there
(12:49):
wasn't a a sort of archetypal version of the thing
that I wanted to become. Right that that that looked
like me or culturally, you know, it came from the
same place that I did. So I mean they were obviously,
you know, successful black artists, but they felt so unobtainable
and so so unreachable that, you know, again, that's like,
(13:12):
you know again, that's like trying to go to a
Barack Obama right like dumped the lines. That's how I
felt at the time. So it was just like, you know,
looking at to your point, looking at those around me
that are successful and doing things. How they're doing it?
Why are they successful? You know, implementing some of their habits, because,
you know, it's it does become, you know, very habitual.
(13:33):
Like you, you start to implement these habits and you know,
it's it's that like every successful person shares that sort
of common thread of, you know, these different habits that
they implore. A day to day too, you know, to
to to sort of keep things going. So I want
to talk a little bit again, a little bit more granular,
as we talk about, you know, building out a brand too.
(13:56):
So not only have you had big names that have,
you know, a hired your pieces. They might share them.
It sort of brings your work to be a little
bit mainstream, you've also collaborated with brands like Nike, Hublow Adidas.
How did those come about? And, as you know, for
artists that are trying to really break into that those areas,
(14:17):
is there any tips that you can offer how to use?
A lot of them came about through relationships, you know,
relationships or everything in this in this industry, Um, and
you know, it was just getting to know the people,
the players at, you know, different marketing agencies, at the
(14:37):
different companies, Um, you know, making my face known at
certain events or my name known. and honestly, there wasn't
a sort of a one, you know, way of prescription
to doing that. It was literally, you know, baby steps.
You know, for a while I just had the determination
(14:57):
to make it and I didn't really know what that was.
I just know that, like I could quantify success by Um,
you know, more so just from from a financial standpoint, right,
like going from broke to actually having and making, making
a thing that people wanted or being able to monetize
(15:19):
off of my gift. That, to me was making it
right at the time. And so, you know, with that,
for me it was like I didn't have a way
that I understood. So I'm like, well, ship, I'm not
going to turn down anything but my collar right. So
as opportunities came, you know, and and to be honest,
(15:40):
of them were bad, you know what I mean, but
I took them because it just allowed you never know.
But you gotta say that again, like sometimes people are
so worried, oh if I take the wrong opportunity, but
you gotta test the waters, like you gotta do. Have
to follow your gut, but some of them are going
to be good. But you gotta take those leaps. Sometimes
you have to take the because you never know who's
(16:01):
going to be in that room or who's gonna see
the thing you did and how it's going to resonate
with them and what could come from it. And so
for me, I just did that. You know, it was
like a lot of nights. I mean, how I would
take live painting jobs at nightclubs, right, which is like
the most worst, best, awkward thing ever, because painting in
(16:22):
a dark nightclub around drunk idiots that are tripping over
you and asking you dumb questions like what are you
doing painting Um, and you know, it's just but again,
like some of those nights actually, you know, I learned
that like okay, they're gonna pay me x to make
this painting. I know if I finished this painting within
(16:42):
a certain amount of time, I know the demographic of
this club and I could probably sell this painting for why? Right, yeah,
and drunk people buy stuff. You never know they do.
And at that time it was just like listen, I'm
you know, I wasn't too concerned about the collection it
was going in. These are paintings I'm creating in a
dark nightclub. I was concerned about eating and surviving. So,
(17:05):
you know, you know, as like a twenty one year
old kid, I'm just like, you know, I need to
get these pieces off and so again, you know, creating
an opportunity whenever I could was sort of my way.
I talked about this idea of like going to broke
to wealth, and on this podcast we talk about generational wealth.
How is your perspective change? You've been a couple of
(17:27):
decades in the game right now. Um, when you think about,
you know, little Hebrew Brantley, the kid that loved comics
and stuff, talk about, you know, that child and what
he thought was going to be wealth and success. And
have you achieved it or it's just a never ending
level up? Well, I think. I mean, first of all,
(17:51):
little Hebrew Brantley is still like big Hebrew Brandley. They're
still kind of the same person, because I don't know
if I've ever twelve years old. I still get, you know,
get and just have more, you know, resources and and
access to the things that I really like, Um, bigger
and stuff. That's it, Um. But I think, I think
(18:14):
for me, I don't know if it's I mean, obviously,
you know, the financial is a part of it, but
I think for me it's now about, you know, the
level of fulfillment that I get by doing certain things right.
And these there's, there's always been, you know, a laundry
list of things that I want to do and and
and the list continues to grow as I evolved, right
(18:35):
as an artist, as a creator, and so, you know,
as opportunity comes. Yeah, I want to do this. You know,
I've always wanted to direct the feature film. I've always
wanted to do commercials, I've always wanted to do this
and do this and do this, and so I think
for me it's it's about creating those opportunities and, you know,
it's not necessarily about the financials attached at this point.
(18:55):
It's more about, you know, what can I do? How
can I you know, how can I evolve and and
go beyond this thing that I've done? How can I
want up myself? You know, it's it's, it's it's it's
that constant, you know, need to to create, constant need
(19:16):
to be doing within the space that like fuels me now,
where it's not again, the money. I think if, if,
if I thought about doing certain things only because of
what the dollar attached to it is, I think the
work and everything would suffer. I think, you know, I
wouldn't be here as long as I've been here. But
for me it's about the opportunity. The things that I
(19:38):
take on are the things that I want to do,
the things that I'm passionate about Um and so, you know,
it allows me to think about the artistry of it first,
before I'm thinking about the money or the compensation Um.
And so that's sort of, you know, how I look
at things now, where it's like, you know, creating more
opportunity for me to do more, to grow, to grow more,
(20:02):
you know, in the creative space, and and know that, like,
if I do my job, if I give it everything
I've got, that the compensation is going to come. You know,
it's it'll fun. I love this because it is the secret, right,
and it's also it's a secret and it's a gift
because you have this, you know, incredible talent that fuels you,
(20:24):
fills you up. It literally will keep have you being
able to dream, put it onto paper, create, etcetera. But
I think a lot of people listen and, you know,
they look past. Well, of course you can say that
when you have some money, right, that I don't think
about the money, but it is so true, and so
many people say that all the time, like if you
can put the money aside and understand that it's just energy,
(20:47):
it will fuel you to like build on your passions,
build out your dream and wake up every day going okay,
I am definitely on the right path, and it comes it's, it's,
it's so, it is true, it's. It's like a tenant
of life, Um, but I think one of the beautiful
things is being able to connect to that and find
things that really fuel you in that way. Um, Hebrew,
(21:09):
you talked a little bit about one of your dreams
being filmmaking. You obviously went to school as a filmmaker
and you just made one of your dreams come true
and you did a feature film with was it Netflix?
So I did a short film with Netflix. They had
a program emerging, it's like an emerging filmmakers program and, uh,
I was lucky enough to be, you know, selective for that.
(21:30):
They picked three directors, Um, for the first round and
I was one of them. So it was, it was
really great. But it was a great it's great experience
because it was an opportunity, though it was a short film,
it was an opportunity to make a thing at a
studio level. So you get to sort of see what,
what you know, a feature would feel like. You know,
(21:51):
it's just obviously a shorter amount of days, but you know,
I had a higher budget and, you know, again dealing
with the real studio. So it was it was a great,
great great. Do you see yourself, you know, transitioning into
doing more maybe full length films? Um, didn't really spark
spark something special for you? Yeah, I mean, you know,
(22:13):
I think that I've always you know, we talked about
we've talked about the archetype, the person that, you know,
looking for the version of WHO I sort of want
to be. And, you know, one of the artists that
I really admire Um or two are, you know, like
Steve McQueen, who, you know, was a photographer first and
(22:36):
obviously you know his his photography evolved into filmmaking. And
then you know Julian Schnabel, who is a pretty well
known New York based artist. You know he was, you know,
gaining his acclaim around the time of BOSC yacht and
Warhol in that, you know, that movement in the eighties. Um.
(22:59):
But you know, looking at how they're able to sort
of balance the artistry as well as you know, Um,
and in both both parts of the medium, right, like
in in their fine art, or Julian's case, in the
fine art as well as in film. And for me,
you know, I'm a storyteller. I appreciate you know, I
(23:22):
appreciate stories. I appreciate narratives. I always had and, Um,
you know, it's something that I've always wanted to participate
in and I feel like, you know, I come from
a visual medium already and, you know, being able to
have the opportunity to tell stories from the other sort of,
you know, stance of you know, obviously, as Hollywood is
(23:44):
sort of evolving now, we're getting more opportunities, more by
to the apple to tell original stories, and so, you know,
I relish in the opportunity to continue to do so.
I mean, I got to make a short film with Netflix,
basically Gremlin's black folks, right and the again, in the
twelve year old me is always wanted to see something
(24:05):
like that, Um, and and with that I got to
work with Jim Henson in their creature shop, Um, you know,
to create the characters. So, you know, these aren't opportunities
that I take lightly and I know that again, it's
it's working out to get to a bigger space and
a bigger stage to do, you know, some bigger films,
(24:26):
but that also doesn't mean that I'm I'm stepping away
from fine art. You know, that's that's my that's my heart,
that's my you know, my sacred space, and so, you know,
I just want to evolve as an artist and be
able to, you know, bounce between a few different mediums. Well,
(24:48):
I want to make sure our audience knows. Please tell
us the film so that they can check it out
on Netflix. It's called e rex Um. It's on Netflix.
It's e r a x and give us a little
quick synopsis. And negligent missed her niece's birthday. She finds
a book in one of those sort of the public
(25:09):
street libraries. You take a book, Legal Book, and the
book is it's a cursed book, and she reads the
story to her niece and these creatures come out. They have,
you know, a certain amount of time to get the
creatures back in the book or they become creatures themselves. Oh,
I love this. I love, you know, fantasy and especially
(25:30):
if you grew up on comics and stuff, I love
this other worlds, the possibility of magic and other creatures.
So I love that you're bringing this in especially for,
you know, people of Color. You know, all our fairy
tales were very much just white forward, and so now
we have this idea to like be able to branch
off into these other alternate magical worlds or Afro futurism.
(25:51):
So that sounds really great. Yeah, I think, you know,
for me I really want to normalize that. You know,
I have daughters and as they grow up in in
this in this and you know, their version of this world,
as the world, you know, reshapes and I want that
to be a normal thing to see us, to see
people that look like them in these types of films,
(26:13):
because I think that, you know, by and large we
don't necessarily, we people of color don't participate in those
films because, you know, it's there's a detachment, right. We
don't see ourselves in those roles and in those spaces,
and so we don't gravitate towards those science fiction films,
towards those fantasy films. I'm not saying we we don't period,
but I think that, you know, we tend to go
(26:36):
mainstream in our community. I feel like it's it's it's
a little bit niche. There's like Oh, you're the you know, quirky,
Geeky girl that was reading SCI FI. Or you know,
maybe it was it was frowned upon because it was
a little anti religious to have these weird things. I
don't know what it is, but I think it wasn't.
It was a bit more niche and I love that.
(26:58):
You know, when you look at it from the perspective
of your daughters and raising these young women, you're like,
all of this is possible, you can dream it up
and we can, you know, put it on film and
it's a beautiful thing. Absolutely, absolutely so more of that,
more of that to come, more of that. Um. I
would be remissed, you know, in the last couple of
(27:19):
minutes if we didn't talk about what's next for you.
When you say more of that, Um, you know, as
your little Hebrew Brantley dreaming again. What is next next is,
you know, more, more shows. Um. I just opened the
show in New York at a gallery and Soho, Um,
and you know, have a few shows to close out
(27:42):
the year and then, you know, Um, more art, more,
more film, you know, and some other side projects that'll
just have to wait to find out about, okay, but yeah,
I think, you know, those are the sort of the
two things that are, you know, very visible on the horizon. Um, working, grinding,
painting and writing. So I love okay, well, make sure
(28:03):
I'm tell us a little bit about the show in
New York so everyone can make sure they check it out.
Is it a solo exhibit or are you there with
somebody else? All Me? Um, yeah, solo dollar, it's called.
It's called dark fiction. Uh, flowers and frogs. It's Um.
It's it's a bit of a departure from, I think,
a lot of the work that people um would normally
(28:26):
sort of recognize me for. Um, you know it it
speaks to, you know, the treatment of the black body. Um,
and you know, I'm I'm sort of doing a comparison
to black and Brown folks, to flowers, you know, this Um,
(28:46):
this this thing that's sort of, you know, nurtured and
cared for and and and grown and, you know, at
the same time used for, you know, Um, enrichment and
all these wonderful things, but at the same time he
sort of uh, you know, dismissed, trampled upon, Um, disposable, disposable. Yeah, very,
(29:07):
very disposable. So just drawing correlation between that and Um,
you know, in my way and Um, you know, it's
as I think it's a pretty interesting study and you know,
it's it's sort of the beginning of something. You know,
it it as as I was going through the pandemic
and creating the work. Obviously, with everything going on, it
was a very, very, you know, very heavy time for everybody,
(29:30):
but you know, more especially, you know, US man our
people and Um, for me, it was just really important
to use my platform to say more than what I
felt like I was Um in in the past, and so,
you know, I kind of just I got very Um,
sort of locked in on these ideas and really needed
(29:53):
to get them out. And so that's sort of what
this show revolves around. And the idea of dark fiction
is like, you know, obviously it's our fiction, Um, and
it's not necessarily a bleak I mean there can be
a bleak, bleakness to it, but it's also, you know,
it's a beauty to it. But you know, as as
I again, as I kind of came up, I used
to read like old cereal, you know, magazines, and you know,
(30:16):
the thing that they had in them was like, you know,
these different stories, but typically the theme is sort of
tied together right different narratives with a theme that sort
of you know, it's it's an underlining thing, and so
I tried to do that with this show and sort
of keep the theme very clear and and and and
prominent throughout, but being able to say different things and
(30:38):
go different places with the work. Well, I love that.
Make sure you guys check it out. It's in New
York Richard Biever's gallery. He always has some really incredible
shows that come through there. So congratulations. My last question, Um,
I dabble a lot in N F T S in
this web three world and so we've had a lot
of N F t artists on here as well. Is
(31:00):
that something that you're considering? What are your thoughts? We
want to know the true Hebrew Brantley download on N
F T S and and what and if you think
it will impact your art. Well, I I honestly. I
mean it was such a new thing and it was
you know, it was happening so fast. Um, it just
it honestly took me a long time to sort of
download and understand what the hell was going on. You
(31:24):
know what what it was, and so, you know, I
think that it's still very much in its early stages.
But you know, I've gotten to a place. I was
going to say you are not late, it is just
getting started, but I think you know now that you
know I've had time to, you know, talk to experts,
talk to folks that are, you know, in this space
(31:44):
day to day. You know, know the INS and outs
and you know it's it's still a bit of the
wild west. But now I'm at a place where I'm
I'm interested in I'm we're we're working on a few
things that, Um, you know, we'll be putting out, you know,
within the next couple of months, hopefully, um, as like an,
you know, an introduction for my work in that space. Great,
(32:05):
we'd love to see you in the digital N F area.
That would be incredible. That would be really good and
very exciting. Okay, well, Mr Brantley, it has been great,
great chatting with you. We know where to find you.
WE'RE gonna keep looking out for upcoming projects, whether they're
on screen in the metaverse or in Brooklyn where we
can check out some of your pieces. My last question
(32:26):
for you is very, very easy, Um, if you could
tell us what your most significant piece sold was, the
one that you always think about and that you know
sort of tops into wow, I've really made it. Well,
that's a really good question. I don't know if there's
just one, but I think the one that really meant
(32:47):
a lot that Jay got Jay z Um and just
what that meant to me at the time, what that
still means to me now. And you know what the
piece meant, right and I remember, you know, creating that
piece and you know, it's it was very Si. Did
you create it as a commission for all, he was
(33:09):
a piece that, you know, Um kind of happened. It
was a you know, it's very energy inspired. It was
like one of those things were like something was sort
of channeling through me. It was a piece that I
literally did in in one night, you know, and it
was something very unique to anything I had ever done before.
(33:30):
And Yeah, and that ended up being the one that
they got. And then, you know, it lived in the
offices and the rocket, thank you. It lived in their
their offices, Um as like the first thing you saw,
you know, so as people would go through, you know,
famous and otherwise I would get tagged in that just,
(33:52):
you know, the eyes that were able to see this
piece and, you know, it felt like it was in
a museum as far as I was concerned, because a
lot of, you know, folks that I looked up to,
folks that I respected, my my my contemporaries. You chance
to view that piece live and you know in person
and it just meant a lot. It meant the world,
and so I think that one is probably leading, leading
(34:14):
the pack Um, in terms of, you know, most significant. Wow,
that is special and I mean it's just a beautiful thing.
When you tell the story, you're like something about that
piece of work. When you were working on it, you
were just channeled, you were just in the zone. So
that's a great story. Thank you so much, Hebrew. Thank
you so much for sharing. Coming on the money moves podcast,
can you let our audience know where they can reach
(34:35):
you on social media and or on your website to
purchase your art? What galleries represent you, et CETERA. Um,
Hebrew Brantley on everything. That's H E B R you Brantley.
Um On everything. And you know I don't have I
mean aside from the show that I'm doing Richard beaver's
(34:57):
in Soho in New York. My other gallery representation is
just in Japan. So that's non Zuka Gallery, Um, and
then otherwise just, you know, at Hebrew Brantley. You know
H DM. Hit the DM. Let me know what you need.
There you go, there, you go, always hustling. That's how
you make your money move. Folks, and I implore you,
(35:19):
you know, artist something really special to me. It's become,
you know, an expression of myself and desires. So find
artists that you love, find artists that you want to
support and collect. It's a beautiful thing to come home
to the piece that I have in your in my house.
It just makes me smile and it just it gives
me wings. So I appreciate you, we thank you and
(35:39):
we hope that you continue to create and, you know,
um go beyond for our community. So thank you so
much for joining us on the podcast today. Thanks for
having me appreciate it. All right, money movers, that's all
the time we have for today, but make sure to
follow Hebrew on all his social media handles and if
we have helped you make your money move, please make
sure to let us know by sending US alike, airing
(36:00):
the knowledge and or leaving us a review on apple podcast.
And make sure to tune in Monday through Friday and
subscribe to the money moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so
that you two can have the keys to financial freedom
you so rightly deserve. Money moves is an I heart
radio podcast powered by Greenwood executive, produced by Sunwise Media Inc.
(36:22):
For more podcasts on I heart radio, visit the I
heart radio APP, apple podcasts or wherever you get your
podcast
This episode is brought to you by Master Card, bringing
the wealth gap together with green hey money movers, welcome
back to money moves, the daily podcast determined to give
you the keys to the Kingdom of financial stability, wealth
and abundant our next guest is a well known artist,
designer and filmmaker. He is one of Chicago's fastest writing artists,
(00:23):
with some of his works commanding upwards of hundreds of
thousands of dollars and a rapidly growing collector base that
includes entrepreneurs such as Swiss beats, Matthew Prinster, Jay Z
and yours truly, I'm really proud to say I own
a piece of Hebrew Brantley's, one of his incredible fly
boy pieces. So I am so excited to bring you
(00:45):
to the money moves podcast today and share his work
with the world. Welcome to the PODCAST, Mr Brantley. How
are you? I'm great. Thank you really good. Well, I'm
overjoyed to have you on the podcast. I have been
um diving into art for the past probably decades, seriously
trying to, you know, build a collection and learn about
(01:06):
art um so really excited to have you on the
podcast today and I want to start off by introducing
you to our money moves audience and talk a little
bit about how you got your start in the art industry. Um.
I know there's some people on here. They are gonna
be super excited because we're based in Atlanta and I
know you went to Clark Atlanta. Um. So let's let's
(01:26):
start from there. I went to I went to Clark Atlanta.
I studied film, Um. And you know, while I was
in school I was doing a lot of interning with
different directors and production companies, Um. And you know, I
was working in our departments, I was doing storyboards and
things like that. Um. But while I was doing that,
I was sort of putting myself through school by doing
(01:48):
a series of t shirts and uh, you know, clothing,
like hand painted items, and so it's, you know, college students,
most of them anyway, have disposable income. And so we
were set up shop on Clark on Thursday and then
at at Spellman on Friday and and just stuff. And
(02:09):
that really helped, you know, sort of start the business engine,
but also just help me realize that I could monetize
off of off of my creative side, you know, off
of artwork, and so it just grew from there. From there,
you know, I started to really pursue art, find art
as as a potential career and, you know, sort of
(02:30):
learned about the gallery system, learned how to paint, you know,
with different mediums, and you know, it's kind of blossom
from there. What's so interesting is, you know, the more
and more entrepreneurs that we talked to you and have
on this, the big ones, the successful ones, were like,
you know what, I was an entrepreneur from the beginning.
So your days at Clark Atlanta, you were like I
was hustling on the street corner selling my t shirts,
(02:51):
like already, you know, bringing business to art. And I
want our listeners, if anyone has one of those t
shirts from those back in those days, please tag us,
because do you still have those t shirts? Like what
what was the art that you were creating at that time?
It was it was everything. I mean at the time
it was my skin was a really popular brand and
there was like a hand painted on on, you know,
t shirts and a lot of the rappers are wearing
(03:13):
and so I kind of and they were all abstract pieces,
and so I was doing stuff that was a little
bit more detailed, more character based. You know, some abstract
stuff too, but not necessarily, you know, sticking in sort
of in my own lane, not necessarily stealing off of
what they were doing. Um, but yeah, it was, it was,
you know, it's it's it's a, it's a it's sort
(03:35):
of a I've evolved basically from, you know, doing you know,
character based work now, but that's sort of where I started.
It was like a lot of characters, a lot of appropriation, Um,
when it comes to like really famous characters, bugs, bunny, spongebob, etcetera, Etcetera.
So I was doing a lot of that stuff because
that's what sold, that's what, you know, everybody was asking for. Or,
(03:56):
you know, Bob Marley on a shirt or a Tupac
or you know some some, some notable, notable figure. So
comics and anime have played a very big role in
your art. I was, as a kid, a huge comics fans.
I've seen you shout out Calvin and Hobes. I say
that wrong because I'm Canadian. I know it's Tobbs, but
you know what I'm talking about. Um, how how is
(04:17):
your art sort of evolved? You know, you talked about,
you know, bringing in what people wanted so that you
were sort of serving your audience. But talk about, you know,
your true passion for bringing these characters to life. Well,
I mean, I think you know the evolution always starts
with the artist first, the Creator, and I think as
I've grown, so have these characters. So has my understanding
of what higher is, Um, and also how to sort
(04:42):
of bring about different narratives. And you know, how to
use these characters, you know, and and and tell certain
tales and stories and you know, you know, get these
these ideas across. And I think you know it always
starts with the Creator first, and so for me that's
that's always been very true. And, Um, you know I'm
(05:03):
you know, I get bored. You know, you can't, can't
do the same thing every day. Can't be like McDonald's right.
You have to your taste in your Palette. And so,
you know, I think that as I've grown older, like
I want to, you know, not only evolved in my
studio practice, but show that evolution, show that growth within
(05:25):
the work and how the work is presented. Um, you knows,
as it pertains to you know my shows and galleries,
et CETERA. So you know it's it's a natural evolution.
I think, Oh, it's it's some beautiful, beautiful work. So
let's Um, I want to talk about fly boy and
little moment, because this is sort of some of your
iconic pieces that you know started, Um, you know, from
(05:47):
street graffiti to these giant Monolithic pieces that you've seen
installed in Chicago across the world. It's such an interesting
evolution to me and I love them because they're super empowering.
It's kind of like this superpower that you've created for,
you know, black culture as well. Um, talk a little
bit about how you made this brand so successful. It
(06:10):
was by accident, Um, to be honest with you. You know,
it was just, Um, you know, in my early years
of painting and creating, I was, you know, a lot
of the work had had, it was, it was it
was very heavy handed and its approach and it had
a lot of angst and, you know, Um, and that
was a part of who I was, but that wasn't
(06:31):
all of who I was, and I think that once
I started to really lean into the things that I
loved and, you know, really tapping into who I was
at this as a creator, Um, these characters sort of,
you know, came about and it wasn't intended to be
a thing that, you know, had legs. It was like,
let me try a thing and, you know, speak from
(06:54):
a certain you know place and then I'll move on.
And you know as as you do as an artist,
but I noticed that, Um, you know, as people were
coming to these shows, I noticed it was an expectation
to see these characters. You know, they became very you know, Um, uh,
sort of. You know, it became greatly appreciated by an
(07:16):
audience that was both, you know, young and older and Um,
I just noticed that there was something there. So I
continue to just explore that narrative, in those narratives, and
just to see how many ways in which I could
reshape and rethink Um, you know, these creations with these characters.
You know, I mentioned all the time that, you know,
(07:38):
I kind of looked at Um like family circus, peanuts,
Calvin and Hobbes. Folks, you know, if you're a Canadian,
I just say things wrong on this podcast all the time.
But I had every book. I was obsessed. But you know,
with those again, those are very dependent upon its creator, right,
(07:59):
and how the creative feels. And when you look at
like Charles Schultz and the peanuts and how, you know,
a lot of these younger kids were dealing with sort
of adult angst and real situations and and and and
and their way of sort of filtering, you know, that
through and understanding it. I thought that there was a
strength in that and I wanted to take that approach
(08:21):
with high art, you know, because I've never seen that
done before. So that sort of became my way, you know,
Um and and has sort of, you know, lead me
obviously here. But yeah, also what's really interesting and a
lot of our audience always wants to know is, you know,
how we did this, and one of the things that
stood out in the very beginning you mentioned. Hey, I
had to study the business, the business of art, how
(08:42):
you make how artists become famous when they're alive and,
you know, galleries, etcetera. So what was it that you
realized you needed to crack in this industry, because it's
hard to break through, it's hard to get representation, it's
hard to, you know, get your art out there where
people want to buy it. And I don't want people
to think that you, and maybe this could be true,
did you find that you became more famous because your
(09:06):
art started in getting into the hands of people like
Jay Z, you know, big popular collectors, or had you
already sort of cracked the gallery system? No, I mean,
you know, it's sort of a two two part question,
but I think the first part was, you know, playing
in the system, doing the things that I was told
(09:30):
was sort of the right way, you know, and it's
this is the quote unquote blueprint. But then I slowly
found that, you know, listen, there's a million blueprints, right,
there's a thousand different ways to make a house and so, um,
that blueprint wasn't working for me and so I pulled
away from the gallery system and that sort of traditional
(09:52):
way in and created my own system. I really you know,
I'm a huge fan of hip hop and, like I
looked at a lot of guys, guys like you know.
I mentioned, you know, selling clothes on Clark's campus. My
table was right next to DJ dramas you know, and
and drama was selling his mixtapes, and this was before
gangster grills, but he was selling mixtapes. Thinking about that
(10:16):
model of like out the trunk, you know, a lot
of guys like you know, I'm from Chicago, you know,
south side of Chicago. Around that same time, you know,
guys are pumping mix tapes in the streets and it's
this Guy Kanye West, and you're like, who the hell
is Kanye West? But you know, the world soon found out.
But starting at a street level, utilizing what you have
(10:37):
to get what you want. And so for me it
was like I know enough people to Um, you know,
put on an art show myself. I can totally do this.
I can rent a spot, I can, you know, borrow banks,
still ask for, you know, placement here, do this, and
then I control everything. I controlled my narrative, I controlled
my audience and on the whole thing. And so I
(10:59):
really went that way first Um. But with the second
part of your question, I think that like as I
did that and that hustling entrepreneurial spirit I got. You know,
I was fortunate to meet a lot of good people
and people, you know, industry folks and Um, but you know,
I always had a you know the degree of separation
(11:21):
between a lot of these people anyway, Um, and so
you know, I just sort of utilized and called on those,
those folks that knew other folks right to just tap in.
It just became a thing and I think by the time,
you know, I started to get some some some you know,
big names collecting my work. You know, I was already
coming up, but I think that, you know, those folks,
(11:43):
those bigger folks, their audience started to kind of pay
attention to art. You know, a little anthony, the swizz is,
the Jay's, the beyonce's, you know, all of these people.
So it definitely helped, of course, but I don't think
that it was sort of the uh, you know, the
biggest taking point. Yeah, and you know, I mean I
(12:05):
just want to remind our audience what's really interesting is
like this started in college, hustling on tables and you know,
oftentimes I think people are like, Oh, I need this
mentor I need someone at the top to pull me up.
It feels like, you know, you talk about Dj drama.
You guys all sort of built up together. So I
also want people to understand the people around you helped
build you in your present day. It's not always like, Oh,
(12:27):
you know, I reached out to Barack Obama and he
showed my art. You know, you you came up with
the people that were around you, whether they were selling
mixtapes brailing art, and I think that's a beautiful thing.
About how we really build and build success in this community. Yeah,
I mean at the time, you know, I didn't. Again,
we talked to the blueprint method, the mentor method. I
didn't I didn't have those people around me because there
(12:49):
wasn't a a sort of archetypal version of the thing
that I wanted to become. Right that that that looked
like me or culturally, you know, it came from the
same place that I did. So I mean they were obviously,
you know, successful black artists, but they felt so unobtainable
and so so unreachable that, you know, again, that's like,
(13:12):
you know again, that's like trying to go to a
Barack Obama right like dumped the lines. That's how I
felt at the time. So it was just like, you know,
looking at to your point, looking at those around me
that are successful and doing things. How they're doing it?
Why are they successful? You know, implementing some of their habits, because,
you know, it's it does become, you know, very habitual.
(13:33):
Like you, you start to implement these habits and you know,
it's it's that like every successful person shares that sort
of common thread of, you know, these different habits that
they implore. A day to day too, you know, to
to to sort of keep things going. So I want
to talk a little bit again, a little bit more granular,
as we talk about, you know, building out a brand too.
(13:56):
So not only have you had big names that have,
you know, a hired your pieces. They might share them.
It sort of brings your work to be a little
bit mainstream, you've also collaborated with brands like Nike, Hublow Adidas.
How did those come about? And, as you know, for
artists that are trying to really break into that those areas,
(14:17):
is there any tips that you can offer how to use?
A lot of them came about through relationships, you know,
relationships or everything in this in this industry, Um, and
you know, it was just getting to know the people,
the players at, you know, different marketing agencies, at the
(14:37):
different companies, Um, you know, making my face known at
certain events or my name known. and honestly, there wasn't
a sort of a one, you know, way of prescription
to doing that. It was literally, you know, baby steps.
You know, for a while I just had the determination
(14:57):
to make it and I didn't really know what that was.
I just know that, like I could quantify success by Um,
you know, more so just from from a financial standpoint, right,
like going from broke to actually having and making, making
a thing that people wanted or being able to monetize
(15:19):
off of my gift. That, to me was making it
right at the time. And so, you know, with that,
for me it was like I didn't have a way
that I understood. So I'm like, well, ship, I'm not
going to turn down anything but my collar right. So
as opportunities came, you know, and and to be honest,
(15:40):
of them were bad, you know what I mean, but
I took them because it just allowed you never know.
But you gotta say that again, like sometimes people are
so worried, oh if I take the wrong opportunity, but
you gotta test the waters, like you gotta do. Have
to follow your gut, but some of them are going
to be good. But you gotta take those leaps. Sometimes
you have to take the because you never know who's
(16:01):
going to be in that room or who's gonna see
the thing you did and how it's going to resonate
with them and what could come from it. And so
for me, I just did that. You know, it was
like a lot of nights. I mean, how I would
take live painting jobs at nightclubs, right, which is like
the most worst, best, awkward thing ever, because painting in
(16:22):
a dark nightclub around drunk idiots that are tripping over
you and asking you dumb questions like what are you
doing painting Um, and you know, it's just but again,
like some of those nights actually, you know, I learned
that like okay, they're gonna pay me x to make
this painting. I know if I finished this painting within
(16:42):
a certain amount of time, I know the demographic of
this club and I could probably sell this painting for why? Right, yeah,
and drunk people buy stuff. You never know they do.
And at that time it was just like listen, I'm
you know, I wasn't too concerned about the collection it
was going in. These are paintings I'm creating in a
dark nightclub. I was concerned about eating and surviving. So,
(17:05):
you know, you know, as like a twenty one year
old kid, I'm just like, you know, I need to
get these pieces off and so again, you know, creating
an opportunity whenever I could was sort of my way.
I talked about this idea of like going to broke
to wealth, and on this podcast we talk about generational wealth.
How is your perspective change? You've been a couple of
(17:27):
decades in the game right now. Um, when you think about,
you know, little Hebrew Brantley, the kid that loved comics
and stuff, talk about, you know, that child and what
he thought was going to be wealth and success. And
have you achieved it or it's just a never ending
level up? Well, I think. I mean, first of all,
(17:51):
little Hebrew Brantley is still like big Hebrew Brandley. They're
still kind of the same person, because I don't know
if I've ever twelve years old. I still get, you know,
get and just have more, you know, resources and and
access to the things that I really like, Um, bigger
and stuff. That's it, Um. But I think, I think
(18:14):
for me, I don't know if it's I mean, obviously,
you know, the financial is a part of it, but
I think for me it's now about, you know, the
level of fulfillment that I get by doing certain things right.
And these there's, there's always been, you know, a laundry
list of things that I want to do and and
and the list continues to grow as I evolved, right
(18:35):
as an artist, as a creator, and so, you know,
as opportunity comes. Yeah, I want to do this. You know,
I've always wanted to direct the feature film. I've always
wanted to do commercials, I've always wanted to do this
and do this and do this, and so I think
for me it's it's about creating those opportunities and, you know,
it's not necessarily about the financials attached at this point.
(18:55):
It's more about, you know, what can I do? How
can I you know, how can I evolve and and
go beyond this thing that I've done? How can I
want up myself? You know, it's it's, it's it's it's
that constant, you know, need to to create, constant need
(19:16):
to be doing within the space that like fuels me now,
where it's not again, the money. I think if, if,
if I thought about doing certain things only because of
what the dollar attached to it is, I think the
work and everything would suffer. I think, you know, I
wouldn't be here as long as I've been here. But
for me it's about the opportunity. The things that I
(19:38):
take on are the things that I want to do,
the things that I'm passionate about Um and so, you know,
it allows me to think about the artistry of it first,
before I'm thinking about the money or the compensation Um.
And so that's sort of, you know, how I look
at things now, where it's like, you know, creating more
opportunity for me to do more, to grow, to grow more,
(20:02):
you know, in the creative space, and and know that, like,
if I do my job, if I give it everything
I've got, that the compensation is going to come. You know,
it's it'll fun. I love this because it is the secret, right,
and it's also it's a secret and it's a gift
because you have this, you know, incredible talent that fuels you,
(20:24):
fills you up. It literally will keep have you being
able to dream, put it onto paper, create, etcetera. But
I think a lot of people listen and, you know,
they look past. Well, of course you can say that
when you have some money, right, that I don't think
about the money, but it is so true, and so
many people say that all the time, like if you
can put the money aside and understand that it's just energy,
(20:47):
it will fuel you to like build on your passions,
build out your dream and wake up every day going okay,
I am definitely on the right path, and it comes it's, it's,
it's so, it is true, it's. It's like a tenant
of life, Um, but I think one of the beautiful
things is being able to connect to that and find
things that really fuel you in that way. Um, Hebrew,
(21:09):
you talked a little bit about one of your dreams
being filmmaking. You obviously went to school as a filmmaker
and you just made one of your dreams come true
and you did a feature film with was it Netflix?
So I did a short film with Netflix. They had
a program emerging, it's like an emerging filmmakers program and, uh,
I was lucky enough to be, you know, selective for that.
(21:30):
They picked three directors, Um, for the first round and
I was one of them. So it was, it was
really great. But it was a great it's great experience
because it was an opportunity, though it was a short film,
it was an opportunity to make a thing at a
studio level. So you get to sort of see what,
what you know, a feature would feel like. You know,
(21:51):
it's just obviously a shorter amount of days, but you know,
I had a higher budget and, you know, again dealing
with the real studio. So it was it was a great,
great great. Do you see yourself, you know, transitioning into
doing more maybe full length films? Um, didn't really spark
spark something special for you? Yeah, I mean, you know,
(22:13):
I think that I've always you know, we talked about
we've talked about the archetype, the person that, you know,
looking for the version of WHO I sort of want
to be. And, you know, one of the artists that
I really admire Um or two are, you know, like
Steve McQueen, who, you know, was a photographer first and
(22:36):
obviously you know his his photography evolved into filmmaking. And
then you know Julian Schnabel, who is a pretty well
known New York based artist. You know he was, you know,
gaining his acclaim around the time of BOSC yacht and
Warhol in that, you know, that movement in the eighties. Um.
(22:59):
But you know, looking at how they're able to sort
of balance the artistry as well as you know, Um,
and in both both parts of the medium, right, like
in in their fine art, or Julian's case, in the
fine art as well as in film. And for me,
you know, I'm a storyteller. I appreciate you know, I
(23:22):
appreciate stories. I appreciate narratives. I always had and, Um,
you know, it's something that I've always wanted to participate
in and I feel like, you know, I come from
a visual medium already and, you know, being able to
have the opportunity to tell stories from the other sort of,
you know, stance of you know, obviously, as Hollywood is
(23:44):
sort of evolving now, we're getting more opportunities, more by
to the apple to tell original stories, and so, you know,
I relish in the opportunity to continue to do so.
I mean, I got to make a short film with Netflix,
basically Gremlin's black folks, right and the again, in the
twelve year old me is always wanted to see something
(24:05):
like that, Um, and and with that I got to
work with Jim Henson in their creature shop, Um, you know,
to create the characters. So, you know, these aren't opportunities
that I take lightly and I know that again, it's
it's working out to get to a bigger space and
a bigger stage to do, you know, some bigger films,
(24:26):
but that also doesn't mean that I'm I'm stepping away
from fine art. You know, that's that's my that's my heart,
that's my you know, my sacred space, and so, you know,
I just want to evolve as an artist and be
able to, you know, bounce between a few different mediums. Well,
(24:48):
I want to make sure our audience knows. Please tell
us the film so that they can check it out
on Netflix. It's called e rex Um. It's on Netflix.
It's e r a x and give us a little
quick synopsis. And negligent missed her niece's birthday. She finds
a book in one of those sort of the public
(25:09):
street libraries. You take a book, Legal Book, and the
book is it's a cursed book, and she reads the
story to her niece and these creatures come out. They have,
you know, a certain amount of time to get the
creatures back in the book or they become creatures themselves. Oh,
I love this. I love, you know, fantasy and especially
(25:30):
if you grew up on comics and stuff, I love
this other worlds, the possibility of magic and other creatures.
So I love that you're bringing this in especially for,
you know, people of Color. You know, all our fairy
tales were very much just white forward, and so now
we have this idea to like be able to branch
off into these other alternate magical worlds or Afro futurism.
(25:51):
So that sounds really great. Yeah, I think, you know,
for me I really want to normalize that. You know,
I have daughters and as they grow up in in
this in this and you know, their version of this world,
as the world, you know, reshapes and I want that
to be a normal thing to see us, to see
people that look like them in these types of films,
(26:13):
because I think that, you know, by and large we
don't necessarily, we people of color don't participate in those
films because, you know, it's there's a detachment, right. We
don't see ourselves in those roles and in those spaces,
and so we don't gravitate towards those science fiction films,
towards those fantasy films. I'm not saying we we don't period,
but I think that, you know, we tend to go
(26:36):
mainstream in our community. I feel like it's it's it's
a little bit niche. There's like Oh, you're the you know, quirky,
Geeky girl that was reading SCI FI. Or you know,
maybe it was it was frowned upon because it was
a little anti religious to have these weird things. I
don't know what it is, but I think it wasn't.
It was a bit more niche and I love that.
(26:58):
You know, when you look at it from the perspective
of your daughters and raising these young women, you're like,
all of this is possible, you can dream it up
and we can, you know, put it on film and
it's a beautiful thing. Absolutely, absolutely so more of that,
more of that to come, more of that. Um. I
would be remissed, you know, in the last couple of
(27:19):
minutes if we didn't talk about what's next for you.
When you say more of that, Um, you know, as
your little Hebrew Brantley dreaming again. What is next next is,
you know, more, more shows. Um. I just opened the
show in New York at a gallery and Soho, Um,
and you know, have a few shows to close out
(27:42):
the year and then, you know, Um, more art, more,
more film, you know, and some other side projects that'll
just have to wait to find out about, okay, but yeah,
I think, you know, those are the sort of the
two things that are, you know, very visible on the horizon. Um, working, grinding,
painting and writing. So I love okay, well, make sure
(28:03):
I'm tell us a little bit about the show in
New York so everyone can make sure they check it out.
Is it a solo exhibit or are you there with
somebody else? All Me? Um, yeah, solo dollar, it's called.
It's called dark fiction. Uh, flowers and frogs. It's Um.
It's it's a bit of a departure from, I think,
a lot of the work that people um would normally
(28:26):
sort of recognize me for. Um, you know it it
speaks to, you know, the treatment of the black body. Um,
and you know, I'm I'm sort of doing a comparison
to black and Brown folks, to flowers, you know, this Um,
(28:46):
this this thing that's sort of, you know, nurtured and
cared for and and and grown and, you know, at
the same time used for, you know, Um, enrichment and
all these wonderful things, but at the same time he
sort of uh, you know, dismissed, trampled upon, Um, disposable, disposable. Yeah, very,
(29:07):
very disposable. So just drawing correlation between that and Um,
you know, in my way and Um, you know, it's
as I think it's a pretty interesting study and you know,
it's it's sort of the beginning of something. You know,
it it as as I was going through the pandemic
and creating the work. Obviously, with everything going on, it
was a very, very, you know, very heavy time for everybody,
(29:30):
but you know, more especially, you know, US man our
people and Um, for me, it was just really important
to use my platform to say more than what I
felt like I was Um in in the past, and so,
you know, I kind of just I got very Um,
sort of locked in on these ideas and really needed
(29:53):
to get them out. And so that's sort of what
this show revolves around. And the idea of dark fiction
is like, you know, obviously it's our fiction, Um, and
it's not necessarily a bleak I mean there can be
a bleak, bleakness to it, but it's also, you know,
it's a beauty to it. But you know, as as
I again, as I kind of came up, I used
to read like old cereal, you know, magazines, and you know,
(30:16):
the thing that they had in them was like, you know,
these different stories, but typically the theme is sort of
tied together right different narratives with a theme that sort
of you know, it's it's an underlining thing, and so
I tried to do that with this show and sort
of keep the theme very clear and and and and
prominent throughout, but being able to say different things and
(30:38):
go different places with the work. Well, I love that.
Make sure you guys check it out. It's in New
York Richard Biever's gallery. He always has some really incredible
shows that come through there. So congratulations. My last question, Um,
I dabble a lot in N F T S in
this web three world and so we've had a lot
of N F t artists on here as well. Is
(31:00):
that something that you're considering? What are your thoughts? We
want to know the true Hebrew Brantley download on N
F T S and and what and if you think
it will impact your art. Well, I I honestly. I
mean it was such a new thing and it was
you know, it was happening so fast. Um, it just
it honestly took me a long time to sort of
download and understand what the hell was going on. You
(31:24):
know what what it was, and so, you know, I
think that it's still very much in its early stages.
But you know, I've gotten to a place. I was
going to say you are not late, it is just
getting started, but I think you know now that you
know I've had time to, you know, talk to experts,
talk to folks that are, you know, in this space
(31:44):
day to day. You know, know the INS and outs
and you know it's it's still a bit of the
wild west. But now I'm at a place where I'm
I'm interested in I'm we're we're working on a few
things that, Um, you know, we'll be putting out, you know,
within the next couple of months, hopefully, um, as like an,
you know, an introduction for my work in that space. Great,
(32:05):
we'd love to see you in the digital N F area.
That would be incredible. That would be really good and
very exciting. Okay, well, Mr Brantley, it has been great,
great chatting with you. We know where to find you.
WE'RE gonna keep looking out for upcoming projects, whether they're
on screen in the metaverse or in Brooklyn where we
can check out some of your pieces. My last question
(32:26):
for you is very, very easy, Um, if you could
tell us what your most significant piece sold was, the
one that you always think about and that you know
sort of tops into wow, I've really made it. Well,
that's a really good question. I don't know if there's
just one, but I think the one that really meant
(32:47):
a lot that Jay got Jay z Um and just
what that meant to me at the time, what that
still means to me now. And you know what the
piece meant, right and I remember, you know, creating that
piece and you know, it's it was very Si. Did
you create it as a commission for all, he was
(33:09):
a piece that, you know, Um kind of happened. It
was a you know, it's very energy inspired. It was
like one of those things were like something was sort
of channeling through me. It was a piece that I
literally did in in one night, you know, and it
was something very unique to anything I had ever done before.
(33:30):
And Yeah, and that ended up being the one that
they got. And then, you know, it lived in the
offices and the rocket, thank you. It lived in their
their offices, Um as like the first thing you saw,
you know, so as people would go through, you know,
famous and otherwise I would get tagged in that just,
(33:52):
you know, the eyes that were able to see this
piece and, you know, it felt like it was in
a museum as far as I was concerned, because a
lot of, you know, folks that I looked up to,
folks that I respected, my my my contemporaries. You chance
to view that piece live and you know in person
and it just meant a lot. It meant the world,
and so I think that one is probably leading, leading
(34:14):
the pack Um, in terms of, you know, most significant. Wow,
that is special and I mean it's just a beautiful thing.
When you tell the story, you're like something about that
piece of work. When you were working on it, you
were just channeled, you were just in the zone. So
that's a great story. Thank you so much, Hebrew. Thank
you so much for sharing. Coming on the money moves podcast,
can you let our audience know where they can reach
(34:35):
you on social media and or on your website to
purchase your art? What galleries represent you, et CETERA. Um,
Hebrew Brantley on everything. That's H E B R you Brantley.
Um On everything. And you know I don't have I
mean aside from the show that I'm doing Richard beaver's
(34:57):
in Soho in New York. My other gallery representation is
just in Japan. So that's non Zuka Gallery, Um, and
then otherwise just, you know, at Hebrew Brantley. You know
H DM. Hit the DM. Let me know what you need.
There you go, there, you go, always hustling. That's how
you make your money move. Folks, and I implore you,
(35:19):
you know, artist something really special to me. It's become,
you know, an expression of myself and desires. So find
artists that you love, find artists that you want to
support and collect. It's a beautiful thing to come home
to the piece that I have in your in my house.
It just makes me smile and it just it gives
me wings. So I appreciate you, we thank you and
(35:39):
we hope that you continue to create and, you know,
um go beyond for our community. So thank you so
much for joining us on the podcast today. Thanks for
having me appreciate it. All right, money movers, that's all
the time we have for today, but make sure to
follow Hebrew on all his social media handles and if
we have helped you make your money move, please make
sure to let us know by sending US alike, airing
(36:00):
the knowledge and or leaving us a review on apple podcast.
And make sure to tune in Monday through Friday and
subscribe to the money moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so
that you two can have the keys to financial freedom
you so rightly deserve. Money moves is an I heart
radio podcast powered by Greenwood executive, produced by Sunwise Media Inc.
(36:22):
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