The title highlights the striking result of combining more than one element— within music, painting, and among people, with a particular emphasis on the splendor and pleasure of jazz, as seen in the focused expression of Miles Davis playing trumpet (Sketches of Miles [all works 2024]), the vibrant depiction of John Coltrane with two saxophones (Soprano and Tenor), and the tightly packed crowd of Tennessee teenagers blowing various brass instruments (The Aristocrat of Bands).

One of the largest canvases in the exhibition, Players of the Horn, gives homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Horn Players, 1983. Both paintings feature jazz legends Charlie Parker playing sax and Dizzy Gillespie playing trumpet. In Deener’s work, the musicians are loosely rendered wearing pastel suits, while the abstract background of dark washes conjures the more dreamlike, emotive world of music. For Deener, the oft repeated motif of horn blowing in the exhibition represents a resonant wake up call to social, political, and spiritual consciousness.

Other art works in the show relate more explicitly to the artist’s interest in Afrofuturism, including Statuesque, a majestic painting featuring the head and elongated neck of a model in front of luscious cadmium red curtains. Sonic Salute similarly renders the long neck of a model wearing sunglasses and long teal gloves, whose angular figure calls to mind Amedeo Modigliani. In both cases, the artist altered source images using Photoshop to create his preferred compositions. The shine of the models’ skin and the length of their necks evoke the dignity and pride of heads “held high.” As with other works in this show, Statuesque and Sonic Salute embody an optimistic and confident look to the future— a visualization of the world Deener desires so that it may become manifest.

Brandon Deener (born in Memphis, Tennessee, 1982) has had solo exhibitions at Simchowitz Gallery, LA; Jac Forbes Gallery, LA; A Hug from the Artworld, NY; and Gallery One, Fort Lauderdale, among other venues. His paintings have been written about in publications including The Guardian, Artlyst, Culture Is Free, Sugarcane, and Art of Choice. Deener’s art works are included in museums and institutions such as Amorepacific Corporation, The Hall Foundation, The Crocker Art Museum, The Fairfield University Art Museum, and in the personal collections of Carmelo Anthony, Ingrid Best, Hebru Brantley, Jaha Johnson, Bruno Mars, Ayesha Selden, and Usher.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 120-page monograph designed by Sebastien Moreu.