By Una Yarsky
Culture House Gallery unveiled Black Cowboy: American Muscle by Brandon Hill on March 15, on view through April 26. The gallery, formerly known as the Blind Whino, is a non-profit offering exhibits from artists in the DC area and beyond. As a non-profit, Culture House artists manage their own sales and receive 100% of sales completed while their work is shown at the gallery. The last two exhibits at Culture House focused on diverse subject matters, including museum experiences for those living with vision impairment in Legally Blindish: Painting + Translations by Briget Heidmous and the ecological diversity in the area with Wild Flowers in the DMV(N) by Thu Ahn Nguyen in the Avant Garden.
The current exhibit Black Cowboy is an exploration of African American cowboys in the West. Artist Brandon Hill brings visitors from the House’s Avant Garden, a space for rotating public art murals, to the gallery itself.
Black Cowboy centers the significant yet often ignored impact of African Americans in the West. The exhibit aims to visualize a world where Black cowboys, some of whom were formerly enslaved, were properly acknowledged for their contributions to the multifaceted history of the American West. Black Cowboy tells the stories of iconic cowboys such as Bill Picket, Isom Dart, Nat Love, and others.
Artist Brandon Hill, known for his multidisciplinary works that include paintings, fiberglass sculptures, and murals, originally opened the exhibit at The Bishop Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. In Black Cowboy, Hill asks audiences to confront their perception of the American hero, saying, “we’ve been conditioned to think our heroes are only of a certain race. The erasure of our stories in mainstream movies, books and even academic lessons have created a skewed perception of reality and of us as a people. I implore everyone to dig deeper.” Hill works in Washington, DC, where his studio ALL DAY PROJECTS is located.
An artist talk by Hill is set for Saturday April 5th, from 12:00 p.m. -2:00 p.m.
