Brian Cannady II
Brian Cannady II is a multimedia artist and avid fan of mythology, superheroes, and manga. He earned his BFA and MFA in Computer Graphics from New York Institute of Technology.
Brian's studies led him to develop the promotional mascot for SIGGRAPH Asia 2009. Though he studied digital sculpture, Brian's love of clay, watercolor, and digital painting inspire him the most.
Currently, Brian exhibits his paintings, sculptures, and illustrations across galleries and conventions along the Northeast. His passion for the Arts led to earning the Marvin Horowitz Sculpture award. Brian has curated two exhibitions, Character Among Us and Our Muses Do Ninety.
When he's not creating Brian enjoys relaxing by walking in nature, observing the world around him to take in inspiration, or reading a new comic/manga.
"My creative process involves immersing myself in research and surrounding myself with imagery/shapes, forms and textures that I feel can resonate with the narrative Iām creating. Those separate items go through a sifting process as I forge a visual language for the work at hand. My latest body of work, The Orisha's, is a personal account of reclaiming identity. The project evolves as I wrestle with long held negative ideologies, deconstruct spiritual beliefs, focus on feelings of anti-blackness and my connection to that narrative, and I sever those bonds to build a new understandings." - Brian Cannady II
Artist Statement
My work focuses on self-recovery. More specifically, recovering my sense of self and severed connections to Black culture. My work has been informed by my formative experiences of being silenced, discouraged from self expression, and separated from the larger Black culture around me. These forms of isolation, which were expressed in my familial, spiritual and emotional realities, have greatly informed my artistry.
Through my artistic process, I am separating myself from personal trauma, reclaiming masculinity from colonialism's harmful influence, unbinding my current perception of femininity from the male gaze, and combating erasure by reaffirming the historical accuracy of Black experiences throughout the Diaspora. I affirm these new understand- ings by researching topics concerning the psychology of masculinity, the synergy between historical occurrences across the African diaspora, and practicing mindful composition of these topics within my artwork.
I explore these topics by converging digital painting, traditional painting, illustration, sculpture, and mixed media to develop narratives that center Black experiences.