In his forthcoming solo exhibition, Building Identities Through Style, Glenn Hardy Jr. excavates the strata of fashion, especially how identities are shaped and perceived through appearance.
Based in Washington, D.C., Hardy is a self-taught painter whose bold portraits emphasize Black life “liberated from the burdens of racial stereotypes and conflict,” says Charlie James Gallery, which is currently presenting the show. The figures in Hardy’s compositions often engage in everyday leisure activities or settle into places of refuge and camaraderie, like studios, athletic courts, and domestic spaces.
Building Identities Through Style emphasizes fashion as more than simply personal expression or “self-celebration,” as described in a statement. Hardy examines the complexities of garments, trends, and luxury through the lens of desire and access, juxtaposing elements of reality and fantasy—especially in a series of paintings of mannequins topped with realistic visages, like individual characters being pieced together as their tailored apparel takes shape.
The artist is interested in how sartorial choices nod to complex systems of negotiation and judgment that inform our understanding of conformity, difference, and a sense of belonging. “Hardy not only interrogates the manner in which Black bodies are seen and assessed, but also the ways in which stylistic excellence has become both reputational armor and a source of joy, experimentation, and play,” the gallery says.
“Soar Thumb,” for example, portrays a group of men in an elevator, all but one of whom are dressed in nearly identical suits and sport short haircuts. The outlier is a tall individual with bold dreadlocks and a white tank top, standing confidently with his arms crossed and gazing directly at the viewer.
Hardy frames the contrast not as an act of rebellion but as a means of parsing how, within a shared space, some find conformity to bring a sense of safety or comfort, while others view individual expression to be—in addition to its liberating nature—a kind of buffer or armor.
“The suited figures are not antagonists but participants in the same system of social evaluation, using uniformity as protection,” says a statement. “The outlier is neither hero nor foil; he is exposed. The work asks not which presentation is more authentic, but what each form of visibility costs.”
Building Identities Through Style continues through February 7 in Los Angeles. Find more on Hardy’s Instagram.
