Brandon Dean

So what's the reason behind painting only white subjects? Do you not want to be pigeon holed or do you just only have particular people to paint? The public wants to know :)

That is the question I always want to answer! I think for me the reason I do it is because I am interested in analyzing canonized cultural ideals in western society, but short circuiting the normal expected manner for an artist of color to address these issues. I am interested in how the work I have is perceived to be about one set of issues when someone doesn’t know I made them, and how that read is changed once they do know a black person painted these images. I like to poke at the gap that is between these two receptions of the work, to and expose WHY there is a difference between them in the first place.

I think there are many black artists who have done great things in terms of representation of black images, as well as pushing forward conceptually the territory of the black image. I however feel that the work I do is the most productive way I can think of to make strides conceptually in this territory, while not being a part of some pre-established and pre-ordained way of approaching issues of class and race in painting. 

I am wanting to show society its own ideals, and present a laser-like focus so that people see these values for the strangeness they posses. That these values aren’t normal or universal, but particular just as any “others” are. That society reinforces certain normative attitudes, and by just presenting them, I am exposing the fact that they are constructed, and perpetuated, but not innate.

It is a conscious choice, not a lack of options, and its definitely not to just avoid being pigeon holed; although that may have some partial influence. It’s to have a conversation about these ideas in a way never fully considered. It’s about who controls what, and how cultural standards are reinforced by all of us everyday, even when we might personally disagree with them.