justin tyler bryant

i was chillin’ with my kool-aid

ARTIST STATEMENT

A righteous way of seeing, you dig.
The title of this exhibition, I was chill’n with my Kool-aid, is derived from the 1994 single “Diggin’ on you” by the R&B group TLC. This positive affirming message bestows a strategy for painting that harkens back to the Black Arts Movement. This exhibition embraces AfriCOBRA’s cool-ade colors - relying heavily on configuration and efficiency in the use of color.
I am interested in this aesthetic as a material to think of the optical constraints that are perceived through a didactic application. How can you achieve depth with flat images? How can you achieve depth with flat color? The paintings are about how it feels to look at images. As your eye moves from one object to the next, your perception of the image takes form in the mind’s imagination. The illusion of movement and depth create a fugitive aesthetic that rests comfortably with perceptions of painting Black representation.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Justin Tyler Bryant is an interdisciplinary artist interested in painting and drawing as a means to explore various mediascapes in Black culture. Notable exhibitions include Moving In Place at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City Missouri, Lingering in the Minor Key in East Lansing Michigan, and the online Get Free Telethon. Bryant received his MFA in Studio Art from Louisiana State University in 2018, and was a participant at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2017. He is the recipient of the Emerging Visions Residency at Michigan State University, the Interchange Fellowship with the Mid American Arts Alliance funded by the Melon Foundation, and was featured in Delta Voices: Artist of the Mid-South by the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Bryant is currently an Assistant Professor in Visual Art at Philander Smith University in Little Rock Arkansas.

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Jeremiah Ariaz and Kristine Thompson. All works from these artists are on view, free of charge, during regular gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) from May 1 - 24, 2026.