"Born in 1991 in New York, US, Brutus now lives and works near Washington DC. His journey to art world admiration was fairly different to ‘the usual’. Always interested in a career in the arts, a young Brutus struggled to find a viable path to this end, and after graduating from St Johns, NY, instead took up a PR position in fashion. Without traditional artistic training, everything he knew had to be self-taught. He set his own curriculum focusing on issues close to his heart and in doing so was unburdened by narrow White dominated artistic tropes. After tentatively deciding to start sharing his work with others through Instagram, it didn’t take long for the industry to sit up and take notice.

The Black figure is at front and center of Brutus’ work. Through a deft examination of contemporary African-American identity with a historical lens, the artist’s work confronts a past fraught by trauma. Instead of focusing on isolated moments, each piece is packed with subtle and overt references from across history. Brutus creates a conversation between different pasts that frame the quotidian Black experience in present-day America. In focusing on minority narratives, not only does the artist draw attention to an overlooked past, he also evokes W.E.B Du Bois’ notion of ‘a double consciousness’, by helping African-Americans reconcile their Black heritage in a world dictated by White narratives. What’s perhaps most noteworthy though, is Brutus’ ability to compel the viewer to learn more.

Marcus Brutus: ""I want to show these very contemporary issues, but show them as having some long past."""

Marcus Brutus

American

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The Uhmericans (Book)