BESTED: Hebru Brantley

Hebru Brantley, Everyone's Scared. Image via ChicagoReader.com.

Chicago artist granted unusual endowment by alternative newspaper’s annual Best of issue.

BEST BARGAIN PAINTING (IF YOU’RE JAY-Z) 
EVERYONE'S SCARED BY HEBRU BRANTLEY

Text | Mara Shalhoup

From the Chicago Reader, June 19, 2013:

You're at Art Basel. You're a megamillionaire rap mogul. Your manager spots a glorious painting that he's sure will appeal to your refined yet edgy taste. It's certainly no stretch that Jay-Z forked over $20,000 for a Hebru Brantley—though it's a nice touch that Hova asked the Chicago-south-side-born artist, whose aesthetic is part Wildstyle, part Japanimation, to deliver the painting to his hotel room. If you find the price a little steep, keep in mind that Rick Ross dropped a reported $20,000 at Art Basel on a mere photograph. Diddy dished out more than triple that on a sculpture at the Miami art fair. And Usher's Art Basel buy? Obviously, it was a Louis Vuitton waffle maker. (I spent so much time, in vain, googling its price that I'm pretty sure I'm about to be under attack by targeted ads for Gucci blenders.) But if you, like pretty much everyone else who's not Jay-Z, don't have that kind of cash lying around, there's a cheaper option: the October 11, 2012, issue of the Reader featured an equally cool Brantley, My Secrets Keep Secrets, on its cover. It would look spectacular framed.

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Hebru Brantley: Straight Out of Neverland