Artist Profile: Eliseo Angel Casiano / Justin Tyler Bryant / by Helen Grant

November’s featured artists will be curating a show entitled “Flyover State”. Eliseo Angel Casiano is a Latinx painter currently based in Tuscon, Arizona. Justin Tyler Bryant is an artist based in Little Rock, Arkansas. His work explores the “fugitive notion of blackness”. Cholo Jackson is the moniker the duo go by when creating combined works. “Flyover State” as a concept works like this, “…With over 50 works created by artists from around the country, the 11x14 format becomes a metaphor that represents the airplane window that one looks through while flying.” Buzz by 2nd Friday Art Walk night and catch a glimpse for yourselves on Nov 8, 6:00-9:00 p.m. at Resonator Institute, 325 E. Main St, Norman, OK.

-H. Grant


“A Change is Happening”Julia CurranSilkscreen on Paper2016

“A Change is Happening”

Julia Curran

Silkscreen on Paper

2016


Artist Statement & Project Statement

Cholo Jackson is a collaboration between Justin Tyler Bryant and Eliseo Angel Casiano which seeks to comprehend Blackness and Chicano culture as expansive terms. Cholo Jackson pulls imagery from personal and public simulacra to create a new context for understanding their existence.

 

Flyover State

“Flyover State” is a Cholo Jackson production. This exhibition seeks to think of the pejorative term Flyover State as a means for collaboration. With over 50 works created by artists from around the country, the 11x14 format becomes a metaphor that represents the airplane window that one looks through while flying. The works displayed redefine this notion in practice. The act of bringing these works together in one space speaks volumes as to artists’ willingness to collaborate and meet in-between. We are creating a context that makes “Flyover State” not just another place on the map.

 


“Untitled”Henry GepferScreen print

“Untitled”

Henry Gepfer

Screen print


Q/A

Q: What is your relationship to the “Fly Over States?”

JTB: I was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and I currently live in Little Rock, Arkansas.

EAC: I spent my formative years in Oklahoma, and I still consider it home. I’m used to hearing people say “I’m sorry” when I say I’m from Oklahoma.

Q: Has that changed over the last few years?

JTB: No.

Q: What kinds of art and artists did you seek to include in this show? 

JTB & EAC: We are fortunate to have met so many talented artists through graduate school, residencies, workshops, and art collectives. We thought about artists from different states and regions who represent many facets of printmaking, photography, and drawing.

Q: What is your hope for the body of work assembled?

EAC: We organized an exhibition of artists we admire from across the country to celebrate the Resonator Institute community. All sales and proceeds from “Flyover State” will benefit Resonator for future programs in the coming year.


Image by Justin Tyler Bryant

Image by Justin Tyler Bryant


BIOS

Eliseo Angel Casiano

Eliseo Angel Casiano is a Latinx painter and Oklahoma native. Through the creation of re-imagined portraiture he interprets biographical events that examine representations of race, family relationships and his own maneuverability through a space of otherness. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from East Central University in Ada, OK and his Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. His paintings have been shown widely across the United States, including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and Transformer Gallery in Washington D.C. He was a recent fellow at the Vermont Studio Center and his work is featured in the New American Paintings, No. 136. Casiano has recently created a scholarship fund at East Central University in his mother’s and sister’s name that provides an annual stipend for a women or non-binary person of color in the studio arts program. The scholarship is in remembrance of two pivotal women who have influenced his commitment to the advancement of marginalized communities in fine art and education. He is currently based in Tucson, AZ.




Justin Tyler Bryant

Born in Stuttgart AR., Justin Tyler Bryant received his BFA in Studio Art from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2012 and his MFA in Studio Art from Louisiana State University in 2018 and was a participant at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (’17). Justin’s recent work investigates the past and present imagery of African-Americans to reflect a multi-contextual narrative of poetry, personal narrative, and history. In his work, he uses found objects, painting, drawing, and video to suggest a fugitive notion of blackness. Justin is currently a full-time instructor at University of Arkansas Pulaski Tech and is a 2019 Interchange Artist Fellow for the Mid America Arts Alliance.


Cody WilsonMale FigureGraphite on paper2019

Cody Wilson

Male Figure

Graphite on paper

2019


Connections

Catch Casiano at 2nd Friday Art Walk.

Website: eliseocasiano.com

Instagram: eliseocasiano


Justin Tyler Bryant at 2nd Friday Art Walk.

Website: burnaway.org/justin-tyler-bryant

Instagram: bluedrinknotredb

Contributing Artists:

Stephanie Alaniz
John Alleyne
Cody Arnail
Emmy Bright
Justin Tyler Bryant
Christopher Burns
Maclovio Cantu
Eliseo Casiano
Lisette Chavez
Eric Cuevas
Julia Curran
Heidi Daehler
Zach Fox
Dhanashree Gadiyar
Lilia Berenice Hernandez Galusha
Henry Gepfer
Clarissa Gonzalez
Cameron Gray
Geren Mckinnon Heurtin
Logan Hunter
Cholo Jackson
Curtis Jones
Aijung Kim
Wesley Zakk Kramer
Tyler Krasowski
Jonathan Mayer
Mandy Messina
Jaki Negreros
Ryan O’Malley
Ian Park
David Carpenter
Mike Pennekamp
Alina Perez
Dason Pettit
Nathan Pietrykowski
Eric Piper
Devin Reynolds
Jose de Jesus Rodriquez
Joseph Rushmore
Carlie Salomons
Clare Samani
Katy Seals
Marina Shaltout
Abigail Smithson
Grace Tessein
Emery Tillman
Joseph Velasquez
M. Robyn Wall
Cody Wilson
Barbara Lane Tharas

Christopher BurnsNavigation over St. Gabriel, LA2019

Christopher Burns

Navigation over St. Gabriel, LA

2019