Brandon Breaux is a multi-disciplinary artist from Chicago whose work includes

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or copper for several centuries. ...

and

digital art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

.Talking Visual Branding & Consistency with Brandon Breaux, the Artist/Designer Behind Chance the Rapper's Album Art
Charlie Kane,

The Hundreds The Hundreds is a streetwear brand founded in Los Angeles in 2003 by law school classmates Bobby Kim and Ben Shenassafar. The Hundreds also sells a print magazine, footwear and eyewear. In 2011, ''Complex'' magazine named The Hundreds as the fif ...

, May 8, 2017

Early life and education

Breaux grew up in the Chatham and Grand Crossing neighborhoods on the

South Side of Chicago The South Side is one of the three major sections of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Geographically, it is the largest of the sections of the city, with the other two being the North and West Sides. It radiates and lies south o ...

. Breaux graduated from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

in 2006.

Career

Breaux's work focuses on representation of his culture on the

and his advocacy for

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

, especially in the Black community. Breaux created the cover art to the 2012

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

debut mixtape ''

10 DAY ''10 Day'' is the debut mixtape by American rapper Chance the Rapper. It was released independently on April 3, 2012, as a free digital download. The mixtape was downloaded over 400,000 times on mixtape site DatPiff, and over 235,000 times on Mix ...

''. Breaux also created the cover art for the ''

Acid Rap ''Acid Rap'' is the second mixtape by American rapper Chance the Rapper. It was released on April 30, 2013, as a free digital download. In July 2013, the mixtape debuted at number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, due to bootleg d ...

'' and ''Coloring Book'' mixtapes, and Chance's 2018 singles "Wala Cam", "65th and Ingleside" and "Work Out". Breaux shot the original photo and created the cover art for ''

.'' The picture happened by chance, according to Breaux: "I had made these tie-dye tank tops before we went to SXSW and I gave them to Chance… In the back of my mind I'm like I hope you wear this." The cover artwork Breaux created for ''

Coloring Book A coloring book (British English: colouring-in book, colouring book, or colouring page) is a type of book containing line art to which people are intended to add color using crayons, colored pencils, marker pens, paint or other artistic media. ...

'' depicted Chance holding his baby daughter, capturing his facial expression but with the baby outside the frame of the image. Following the publication of the cover art for Chance the Rapper, artists including

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

Kehlani Kehlani Ashley Parrish ( ; born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen pop group PopLyfe in 2011. Kehlani's debut mixtape, '' ...

Miguel --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...

, and

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with Universal Music Australia, EMI Australia in 2013 and ...

have released album cover art showing Breaux's influence. His debut U.S. solo exhibition, ''BIG WORDS'', included painting, print, and fashion design, and was curated by Anna Cerniglia and Alison Cuddy for Blanc Gallery.The big world of Brandon Breaux
Isa Giallorenzo, ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'', April 28, 2022 In a review for

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a quarterly British lifestyle magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. ''Dazed'' is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for produ ...

, Vanessa Murrell noted the exhibition's use of typography and figures to stimulate the viewer's right and left brain functions. ''Ebony'' magazine published Breaux's commissioned portrait of fashion icon

André Leon Talley André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 – January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, author, and editor-at-large of '' Vogue'' magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its f ...

on its cover. Civil Rights Movement pioneer Congressman

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

commissioned a portrait by Breaux for the cover of his final published work, ''Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation''. In 2020, Breaux collaborated with the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai ...

on a

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a minimalist collection of clothes that can be put together in different ways to cover a variety of outfits and occasions. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing. Thi ...

. In 2022, Breaux was selected in a cohort of 14 master artists and designers to be part of Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, a partnership of the

Prada Group Prada S.p.A. (, ; ) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding ...

, Theaster Gates Studio, Dorchester Industries, and

Rebuild Foundation Rebuild Foundation is a non-profit art organization focused on buildings and neighborhoods in South Side, Chicago, South Side Chicago, sustaining cultural development and celebrating art. The Rebuild Foundation was founded in 2009 by Theaster ...

. In 2022 the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

selected Breaux for its "Office Hours" curated developmental

artist residency Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

program. In August 2024, the

Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bu ...

wrapped Breaux‘s ''SEEN'' on trains as part of a public art exhibition titled “Track(ed) Changes” coinciding with the

2024 Democratic National Convention The 2024 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention in which delegates of the Democratic Party (United States), United States Democratic Party voted on their party ...

. In 2024 Breaux continued long-term collaboration with Emerald South EDC on a public art mural installation of his ''SEEN'' oil-on-canvas painting. The mural, in the Washington Park neighborhood, has

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

functionality.

Awards and honors

In 2022 ''Ebony'' magazine named Breaux in its ''POWER 100'' list of Black leaders. EBONY'S 2022 POWER 100: Artists
''Ebony'', September 20, 2022

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Breaux, Brandon 1983 births Living people DePaul University alumni African-American painters Artists from Chicago 21st-century African-American artists Chance the Rapper African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists

Early life and education

Career

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links