Juxtapoz Magazine – Glenn Hardy, Jr. Asks “Who Am I If I Don’t Represent” @ Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles

Charlie James Gallery is delighted to current our next solo show with Maryland-centered self-taught artist Glenn Hardy Jr. titled Who Am I If I Really do not Symbolize? opening to the general public on January 14th, 2023 from 6-9pm at 969 Chung King Highway in Los Angeles.  

Glenn Hardy’s inventive follow fashioned in reaction to the mass of adverse visible language permeating the Black American experience: limitless depictions of violence and recommendations of hazard functioning like a net all around an total neighborhood, restricting social movement and actively endangering lives. Hardy’s paintings are primarily performative acts of self-preservation accomplished by the cultivation of empathy in their viewers.  More than mere survival however, Hardy’s performs declare a personalized and collective dedication to rise and to are living unapologetically and with out panic. In interviews Hardy has consistently expressed an affinity for the get the job done of Kerry James Marshall and Ernie Barnes, the affect of both guys being plainly noticeable in the operate. Hardy’s operate should also be examined along with that of 20th century American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell. Rockwell encoded an index of write-up-war American narratives by his magazine addresses and paintings. Hardy’s do the job seeks to similarly encode good narratives of the present-day Black American encounter, and in so accomplishing fight existing bias.

The scenes introduced in “Who Am I If I Really don’t Symbolize?” are centered in gatherings and reunions, supported by portraits of operate, participate in, and distinct types of achievement. Hardy sees the paintings as pretty much a linear narrative from privation to progress, supported throughout by mates and spouse and children, culminating in good results and celebration. Text from the artist: “This clearly show will consider you on a journey, from the moments of acquiring practically nothing, adhering to your dreams and hoping it’ll be the way out, to getting tips from the OG’s that sat in rocking chairs on the porch, from rekindling relationships that were absent for so prolonged it manufactured you say, ‘long time, no see,’ to celebrating that minute when you can finally say, ‘look momma, I produced it’.”