The Uhmericans

Marcus Brutus paints his Black diasporic subjects in disparate settings: His figures exercise, read, relax, and work across beaches, barbershops, lawns, and living rooms. Brutus captures them all with bold contours and vibrant palettes as he subtly references Black artists and thinkers who range from Nikki Giovani and Angela Davis to Frantz Fanon and Roy DeCarava. Brutus is self-taught; he studied science and worked in public relations before pursuing fine art. He has exhibited in New York. In 2019, Brutus published a monograph, The Uhmericans. Inspired by the work of Alice Neel, Kerry James Marshall, and Peter Doig, he uses portraiture to explore ideas of power, the multiplicity of Black American identity, and the fight for civil rights.