Casterline|Goodman Gallery is pleased to present Stance, an exhibition featuring the work of artist Hebru Brantley. Charged, yet strangely playful, this series highlights a poised and aloof Flyboy with arms folded over his chest depicting a clear certainty, while his smirk confounds his assurance. The position, so still and dramatized, becomes statuesque, even monumental. But a monument to what? 

Brantley’s “Flyboy” characters are influenced by the heroic Tuskegee Airmen of World War II and represent a playful social commentary that is deeply linked to Brantley’s childhood growing up on the south side of Chicago.  The Flyboy character offers a heroic archetype for young children of color to explore a wide range of pop culture topics varying from sports, art, and socio-economic trends. There’s an unsettling stillness that surrounds Brantley’s figures. This eerie stillness makes room for closer inspection. Upon deeper analysis, false facades, masquerades and veiled appearances are sprinkled throughout the posed stoic figures. Brantley pokes at our certainties and reveals instead our ambiguities. We are left questioning our bureaucratic disputes, our glorified heroes and our praised monuments. Brantley serves us the disappointing and false grandeur in state ship, tribalism, and power dynamics. Stance is on view from July 29, 2019 to September 15, 2019 in Aspen, CO.