Hebru Brantley: SKIN + MASKS, Kavi Gupta | Elizabeth St.

Hebru Brantley (b. 1981, US) is an internationally beloved, multidisciplinary artist, whose large-scale murals and public sculptures feature such instantly recognizable characters as FLYBOY and LIL MAMA. 

Brantley has described himself as an Afrofuturist artist. Afrofuturism is a speculative cultural aesthetic and philosophy that imagines possible futures for Black culture through the lenses of technology, science, and liberation. 

Brantley’s work reflects a range of Pop Culture influences, such as science fiction books and movies, Blaxploitation films, Japanimation, and graffiti art. Born in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Brantley was also influenced by the ethos of AFRICOBRA, a Black Arts Collective formed in the late 1960s, also on the South Side of Chicago, which centered positive images of Black people. 

Brantley often depicts hopeful, childlike images of himself in his work. Grounded in the world of childlike wonder and nostalgia, the narrative world his characters inhabit is a stage for addressing issues such as the power of nostalgia and the psyche, and the enduring value of hope. 

Brantley’s FLYBOY character, donning his pilot goggles and an ever-curious, ever confident expression, has become an iconic inhabitant of the world’s public art scene. Today, FLYBOY not only inhabits walls and public squares, but can be seen in comic books and on stickers, jigsaw puzzles, fashion accessories, and scores of other products available, but nearly always sold out, on the Hebru Brand Store. Brantley is also currently expanding the FLYBOY Universe through his media company, Angry Hero. 

Brantley has collaborated with numerous global brands and influencers, including Adidas, Hublot, Bombay Sapphire, and Chance the Rapper. His work has been exhibited all over the world, and has been extensively covered in such media outlets at Forbes, WWD, HypeBeast, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Post, and is collected by such influential public figures as LeBron James, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Lenny Kravitz, and George Lucas. Brantley earned his B.A. in Film from Clark Atlanta University. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.