Awareness Post - Glenn Hardy Jr.

Barbershop, 2023 - Acrylic on canvas - 39 1/2 × 53 in

Glenn Hardy Jr. was born in Washington D.C. and raised in Maryland. His paintings are mostly of Black people and common Black experiences. He darkens the skin tones in his art despite what his models' or references' skin tones may be. I like his artwork because he displays these experiences, such as being in a black barbershop, and paints them with almost a sense of romanticism. He seems to enjoy these experiences and paints them as joyful. I don't like how he deliberately darkens the skin color of the people in his paintings, however, I do think with the way he paints it might detract from what he is trying to accomplish in art if he did have individual skin colors for every person in all of his paintings. I think his intentionality in skin tone helps to build a sense of community that comes from being Black.