Los Angeles/San Francisco
It was while studying art as an undergraduate that Diedrick Brackens discovered the loom: the tool that has come to define his practice. Brackens weaves tapestries that explore themes of queerness and African American history, populated by silhouetted allegorical figures in dreamlike scenes. The artist hand-dyes his material – cotton yarn, a material freighted with historical associations – using both commercial dyes and colorants such as wine, tea and bleach. His work has featured in solo exhibitions at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Various Small Fires, Los Angeles and Seoul; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita; and Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, among others. He has won awards including the Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize from the Studio Museum, New York, and the Barclay Simpson Award from the California College of the Arts.
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