Bryant Giles: Behind the Layers
During our conversation, I ask the artist, “Do you ever cry?” His response details an incident that happened to him growing up which, to this day, informs his approach to life and art: when he was nine years old, Giles was amongst supposed friends when a circle formed around him. Simultaneously, an older brother of Bryant’s best friend shouted, “Fight!” and before he could process what was happening, one of his eyes was pounded black. From that moment forward, Bryant vowed to protect himself and his being with an exterior that settles for no less than the respect he deserves.
“That situation prepared me to receive punches, of all forms,” Giles tells us. “But it also exposed me to the force of a mental blow. Such, as powerful as the physical. Being an artist, or anyone presenting an idea to a platform, you must be prepared to take unprovoked blows. It’s life.”
Although resilient, Giles soon realized that he isn’t in a race with anyone but himself—even as a kid. “Once a week, I’d get new, blank writing paper—and throughout the following days, I’d fill it all up,” he says. “I’d sit in my room narrating stories, conversing with myself all day.” In addition to creating, he also soon learned to hustle his creations.
“Before I hustled my art, I was hustling a MySpace page for my music,” Giles explains. “I would go around my school freestyling to people, proposing if they liked it.. they would have to like my Myspace page.” Many of us reading this have entertained the concept of what it is to hustle and have realized that in order for hustling to work, you’ve got to have a compelling product to sell people. Luckily for Giles, his work features pieces that are as visually fascinating as they are deep.
“Where Did the Fun Go?” features compelling drawings, including one that depicts an opened head with a surfeit of faces infused with remembered memories. “I’ve always studied people and my environment, and learned from others' mistakes,” Giles explains, when addressing the idea of inspiration. The late comedian Robin Williams and late painter Basquiat have both imprinted Giles with a penchant for the tortured soul, but their work also helped inform him on what routes to avoid.
Staying mostly sober and focused on navigating the next bump in his winding road, Giles reminds us of how he stays authentically himself. “The feeling of impressing yourself grows like an everlasting hunger. You are the closest person in the audience to the film that is your life. You want to keep the inner you entertained and perplexed at all times.”
How does Giles stay “entertained and perplexed” in such ravaging times? Studying. Studies conducted by himself, of himself, and of those who walked before him. Giles is an artist, but also an eternal student. “I spoke with my grandfather and we talk about forever being students, and always being humbled by the universe,” he says. “For short, we’ll never know it all. We will never know enough. There's always more to grasp. So that's exciting as well.”
Giles’ influences range from the mundane routine of every day—long subway rides in various cities give the painter insight as to the thousands of angles the human face and body can take on in his work—to Japanese influences like anime. Certain works by Giles can have a similar essence to Masaaki Yuasa’s ‘Mind Game’ characters.
When asked if anyone has ever grasped an exact explanation of what was going on in a piece of his, Giles replies, “Actually, never. People only know what I want them to with my work. I don't think anyone will ever be able to hit the nail and that’s what keeps this fun. Private, and fun. My definition of solace.” Solace is an everlasting destination—one that Bryant hopes to edge toward with his work and self-exploration.
What’s next for Bryant? Look no further than the closing banter from our conversation:
BG—I kinda wanna direct a horror/reality film.
LB—Them shits become controversial real fast, taking that heat doesn't affect you?
BG—I think I’ve become used to “taking the heat." Words become air soft bullets reflecting on my rugged skin.
LB—So you would want to tackle a huge project based on something that is to a degree quite unknown by you?
BG—I would only want to tackle a project if it was unknown to me. Otherwise, where’s the thrill? Where’s the gain? Playing it safe has always felt lackluster. Cheap if you will, but circumstances vary.
