About the Artist
Assandre Jean-Baptiste (b. 1994, Essex, NJ), nom de plume “Huey Dynamite,’ is an artist and visual storyteller based in Dallas, Texas. ‘Huey Dynamite’ is a moniker created by Jean-Baptiste to signify the explosive power of color in his art.
Working primarily in acrylics, Jean-Baptiste channels contemporary influences in animation, music, pop culture, and literature to paint vibrant subjects in both personality and pigmentation. Jean-Baptiste explores themes of identity, creativity, introspection, and exploration with Black individuals in his past and present. Through his work, Jean-Baptiste celebrates and reveres Black American culture through expressive portraiture saturated in color.
Jean-Baptiste has been in meteoric demand since entering the art scene, having shown in exhibitions across Texas including: the National Juneteenth Exhibition in Fort Worth, ART214 , the annual 2021 Texas juried exhibition with Artspace111, and the 27th Carroll Harris Simms National Black Competition at the African American Museum of Dallas, where he won “Best Painting” in show. Jean-Baptiste was commissioned by Pharell’s Billionaire Boys Club & Ice Cream to create a bespoke design and partnered with Pharell’s Black Ambition Organization.
In addition, Jean-Baptiste has been featured by NPR’s KERA and Glasstire.
Previously, Jean-Baptiste was an artist-in-residence of the Cedars Union Art Incubator’s Cohort 4. Most recently, Jean-Baptiste was honored as a McDermott Foundation Fellow, a prestigious cohort of emerging talent selected by the Dallas Museum of Art’s Junior Associates. With each painting, Jean-Baptiste manifests the world he seeks to view through his lens.
About the Exhibition
Hyphen Space presents “Prelude,” a solo exhibition by Assandre Jean-Baptiste (aka HUEYDYNAMITE). RSVP at hyphenspace.co/gallery
Prelude is an encapsulation of a chrysalic moment of Jean-Baptiste’s visual career, defined by vividly bold depictions of Black American culture and mythical figures of his own creation. Viewers are invited to glimpse the iridescent wings of Jean-Baptiste’s portraiture work, as he shifts his focus to immortalize those in his community.
At the heart of the exhibition is a selection of portraits of people Jean-Baptiste considers to be tastemakers in their own right, some having known the artist for a few months and others for years. Each has made an impact on Jean-Baptiste’s art practice and are the subject of his deeper exploration of portraiture.
Through his hands, mortals become gods and laymen become legends. Jean-Baptiste’s personal pantheon are flesh and blood, multifaceted human beings in the Dallas art scene who have influenced the artist. In addition to the series of twenty-eight small-scale portraits of tastemakers, the exhibition will also feature two large-scale paintings on loan and a series of graphite sketches by the artist.
“With this assembly of works, whether it is someone’s introduction into my practice or their well appreciated continuation of interest, I hope to ignite something within the viewer that is familiar and warm. Something that reminds them that they are seen.” - Assandre Jean-Baptiste
As implied in its name, Prelude is a taste of what is to come in the next chapter of Assandre Jean-Baptiste’s visual Odyssey.
From August 15th to September 20th, Hyphen Space offers a bold, vibrantly intimate lens into Assandre Jean-Baptiste’s personal pantheon. Curated by Christina J. Hahn