Brandon Breaux is a multi-disciplinary artist from the

South Side of Chicago The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and we ...

whose work includes

oil-on-canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest ...

and

digital art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various name ...

.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 fifth-gr ...

, May 8, 2017

Early life and education

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

. Breaux graduated from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

in 2006.

Career

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, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape ''10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

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 Mixt ...

''. Breaux also created the cover art for the ''Acid Rap'' 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 '' Acid Rap.'' 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 * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

Kehlani Kehlani Ashley Parrish (born April 24, 1995) is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Kehlani is originally from Oakland, California, and achieved initial fame as a member of the teen group Poplyfe in 2011. In 2014, Kehlani released the ...

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 (disa ...

, and

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

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 weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

'', April 28, 2022 In a review for

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

, Vanessa Murrell noted the exhibition's use of typography and figures to stimulate the viewer's right and left brain functions. Breaux's commissioned portraiture work includes fashion icon

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

for the cover of ''Ebony'', and civil rights pioneer Congressman

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

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 Shangha ...

on a capsule collection. 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. In 2022 Breaux was selected for the "Office Hours"

artist residency Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, DC.

Awards and honors

''Ebony'' magazine named Breaux in the 2022 EBONY Power 100 list of Black leaders in business, STEM, sports, media, activism, music and entertainment. EBONY'S 2022 POWER 100: Artists
''Ebony'', September 20, 2022

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Biography, Art, United States, Chicago 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