#justin brown

[edgarmoser]

justin brown, gay art

[clarkkantagain]

ai artist justin brown

[tommydashwood]

[nerdygaymormon]

“As a teen boy who identified as a boy — randomly sprouting breasts really, really sucked.”

“A quick procedure and a few weeks of wearing an ace bandage later, I was flat-chested and finally had a body that looked like mine. Trans children deserve the same consideration.“

“Over the years, I’ve had medical procedures that saved my body, but my breast reduction saved my mind. Receiving care that affirmed my perceptions of my gender drastically changed my life for the better. I can attest that having mind-body alignment feels like a superpower.“

“The care that I received is just one small example of the gender-affirming care that cisgender folks receive regularly. We just call it ‘health care.’”

“We frequently change or ‘enhance’ our bodies hormonally, too. Kids have been dosed with human growth hormone since the ‘60s to make them taller, and men looking to achieve a cartoonish level of ‘manliness’ get testosterone pumped into their veins. Hormone replacement therapy is commonplace for cis-women and men looking to maintain or enhance their vitality in ways that align with their gender identities and gender ideals. 

But I don’t see the care that affirms cisgender norms, expectations and functions, including for children, being questioned to the same extent as transgender care. By contrast, even the most basic of trans care — respecting gender identity and expression, puberty blockers and hormone therapy — is scrutinized endlessly and demonized to the point of being life-threatening for patients and doctors alike. “

[dustedmagazine]

Mint Mile — Roughrider (Comedy Minus One)

Photo by Patrick Masterson

Mint Mile has been an active concern for going on a decade now, but the build has been slow: Three promising EPs were finally followed by a sweeping full-length that dropped the week after the bottom dropped out on reality and the pandemic began. Ambertron was a grand triumph in a year that did its best to stifle such art, but its casual, communal air felt out of sync in a year where easy connection was impossible. Like time and those of us that survived, however, the band has moved on. Those changes are well processed and documented on the appropriately titled Roughrider.

The best place to start with Roughrider might be right at the end with “I Hope It’s Different.” The alt-country ensemble SIlkworm’s Tim Midyett has been writing for and helming with the steady assistance of bassist Matthew Barnhart, guitarist Justin Brown and drummer Jeff Panall is here led by Nina Nastasia on vocals instead — an acclaimed songwriter in her own right whose “That’s All There Is” Silkworm covered way back in 2003. Nastasia looks optimistically to what comes next as she sings “I hope it’s different / Not just another good time / Insulated by uncomfortable lies” set to the band’s twangy slow dance and given added flourish by Poi Dog Pondering’s Susan Voelz organization of the strings. It’s like opening a window and walking outside, the promise of fresh air and a new environment before you after Midyett’s scrawling shifts and meandering moods.

That doesn’t mean “I Hope It’s Different” is the best song here, exactly. Mint Mile has taken up the mantle of the kind of unspooling Americana Jason Molina used to excel at so well, which is a funny thing to say given Roughrider’s brevity relative to Ambertron. Even so, the band is firing on all cylinders here regardless of track length; “Interpretive Outlook” does every bit as much with its sub-three-minute runtime as “Brigadier” does pushing eight. The breadth of musicianship is on full display and Midyett’s songwriting expands or contracts to fit the music as needed; his roughened, unsparing delivery had me recalling early Jets to Brazil and Lucero.

But perhaps even more so than Ambertron, this is a record about community. To wit: The band shines brightest when the core four are accompanied, which is almost always. The fluid grace of Brown’s pedal steel guitar and Barnhart and Panall’s anchoring rhythm section never sounds better than when there’s just a little something extra — Susan Voelz’s violin, say, or Alison Chesley’s cello. I was disappointed to discover frequent associate Howard Draper did not bring back the “magic spackling thing” as a credit from Ambertron, but nevertheless, his piano, organ and lap steel guitar frequently add a magic touch where an otherwise strong song could’ve settled. There’s Corvair’s Heather Larimer lending vocal assistance on “Empty Island.” And for Silkworm fans, “Halocline” and “S c ent” each feature Joel R.L. Phelps on saxophone. You could write out the whole list of credits for how many contributors are worth noting and for how much they add to make such a satisfying record.

As with Ambertron, though, the best songs on Roughrider happen when Mint Mile piles on the people in a gradually growing jam that stretches the band’s legs. Mirroring “The Great Combine” and “Amberline,” “S c ent” and “Brigadier” probably started as simple singer-songwriter sketches but grew into enormous, swooning spins. MIdyett appropriately struggles on “Brigadier” to hit an attempt at his highest registers as he sings “Can’t overcome the life we made” while the strings skitter and Panall’s percussion finally brings the band to a crashing finish, where Draper’s pulsing, spirit-cleansing organ takes you out. It’s a real thing of beauty.

The whole album and band — really, we should be more generous and call them a collective — is a thing of beauty. Once again, Mint Mile has delivered music with weathered emotional complexity that retains an open-ended sense of optimism that, maybe from now on, the ride won’t be so rough. How easy it is to fall for that kind of burdened but unbeaten perspective.

Patrick Masterson

[eyesworth]

Artist: Justin Brown

[thehardgroove]

OFF!

[indianabeach]

Justin Brown

Indianapolis, IN

Intelligence Countered : Andy Warhol Table mixed media collage on card table, 33.5 x 33.5 x 28 in $2500 Andy Warhol’s FBI file with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Margia Kramer highlighted. 

Intelligence Countered : Open Source Intelligence Audio cassette case and audio cassettes, 3.5 x 4.5 x 12.25 in NFS

Malcolm X -  “The Black Man’s History” Kwame Nantambo - ASCAC Conference 3/13/93 “New World Order : Afrocentric Perspective” Dr. Amos Wilson - “Africans and the New World Order” Dr John Henrik Clarke + Dr. Ivan Van Sertima - “The Black Family” Dr. Jewel Pookrum - “New Dimension in Healing” Dr. James Turner - 10/14/89 “African Consciousness and White Supremacy Domination” Dr. Edwin Nichols - “The Decline of African Opportunity in the Industrial Society” Dr. Yusef Ben Jochannan - “ The Philosophical Foundation of Pre-Dynastic Egypt” Steve Cokely - “Biological Warfare” Dr. Ivan Van Sertima : 1987 “Before Congress: The Columbus Myth" Dr. Martin Bernal, Dr Mary Lefkowitz, Dr. Guy MacLean Rogers, Dr. John Hendrik Clarke, Utrice Leid -“A Debate on the Source of Western Civilization and the Debt it Owes to Africa” Dr. Ann Brown - “The Vital Foundation of African Health” Brother Ra - “As a Christian Do You Have the Truth” Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah - “The Dan Broadcast to the Nation of Ghana” Dr. John H. Clarke - “Myths About African Civilization”

Justin Brown (b. 1988) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Indianapolis, IN. He is the founder and director of Hoy Polloy art gallery located at 3125 e. 10th street, Indianapolis, IN. Justin’s work is research based; ranging from public- private experiments, to government and corporate surveillance programs to archival photographs. Justin paints with data and paper. His series “Intelligence Countered” highlights FBI surveillance files of persons of interest from the Rabble Rouser Index, Cointelpro, and modern intelligence operations. He collages casework and redacts the papers further with abstract painting techniques to draw the viewer's eye to the text. Justin’s “Cubist Maps” series is centered around the historic development of neighborhoods, cities, and interstate infrastructures. He collages archive images of landmarks and residents in geometric “maps” to honor a region's history. Justin has installed permanent murals in Milktooth, Rabble Coffee, Beholder, and the MLK Multi-service Center in Indianapolis. His work has been exhibited at Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Big Car’s Listen Hear, and Hoy Polloy. My art is research based documentary collage. I research land development history, governmental investigatory paperwork, and private intelligence surveillance companies. Iconography and text are the basis of my practice.

artsy.net/partner/hoy-polloy-art-gallery @blacklipbasquiatbillhicks

[caseysparkz]

Justin Brown

[ddmclg1]

[edgarmoser]

justin brown, gay art

[clarkkantagain]

ai artist justin brown

[nonesuchrecords]

Tigran Hamasyan, who is currently touring Europe with music from StandArt, his new album of American standards, has shared this full concert performance of songs from the album. Hamasyan and the trio featured on StandArt—bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Justin Brown—filmed the performance at Pôle PIXEL in Villeurbanne, France.

[sleebyconfy]

That Roy - Gerald Clayton feat. Justin Brown - Bells On Sand

[ziggymardust]

I ‘ate the AM. I ��ate the PM. I ‘ate labels.

Art: Justin Mason