Chief Mechanic

About the Work

From the Artist

The notion of Black identity has been complicated and largely misunderstood. We control neither the construction nor the distribution of our varied and multilayered stories of self. I am attempting to disrupt the existing narratives with my own. Some of this is done through sculptures, videos, photography, and other media, but primarily through drawing.
These drawings are patchwork, counter images to the reductive examples of blackness that prevail in various forms of popular media and culture around the globe. The characters that make up these drawings are drawn from my interest in science fiction, comic books, history, Hip Hop, and fresh fashion styles. They are portraits of friends and neighbors and possess an unspoken description of resistance. These works, out of necessity, speak from a dichotomy of both a western art language and a black popular expression, as this is the duality in which I operate. I work from and seek to reference forms that are relevant to both spaces. 
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}

Houston-based artist Robert Pruitt is best known for figural images—drawings, videos, and installations—that juxtapose historical and contemporary experiences of African Americans. Combining elements of science fiction, hip-hop culture, and comic-book graphics, Pruitt’s images are politically charged, physically grounded, and fantastic—a blend of self-determination and culturally conditioned myth. Pruitt’s Enlist series appropriates the language of advertising and comic book superheroes while recalling World War II era recruitment posters. Chief Mechanic and Star Pilot herald an Afro-Futuristic call to arms for a Mothership Defense Squadron in need of artists of all skills.
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records, adapted in part from https://studiomuseum.org/exhibition/robert-pruitt-women}