Multimedia artist Hebru Brantley has teamed up with Andaz hotels to create a capsule collection titled Away We Go, outfitting one room each in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Tokyo.
Brantley has earned global renown for his paintings, sculptures, and installations. Fans also covet the apparel, art toys, prints, and accessories he releases under his Hebru Brand. Informed by Black history, graffiti, the AfriCOBRA movement, pop art, and his brilliant imagination, Brantley’s creations—like his Flyboy and Lil Mama characters—are beloved worldwide.
From March 3 until sellout, guests who book a stay in an Away We Go room (for stays between March 24 and April 23) will also have the chance to bring the collection home, including a tote bag, postcard, candle, mug, hoodie, and bathrobe
Book an 'Away We Go' room now.
Complex caught up with Brantley earlier this winter to talk about his Away We Go collection, how the Navy’s Golden Thirteen Black sailors inspired the collection, and what it’s like to work on a hotel room versus in a gallery.
Read up, look at the collection below, then book your Away We Go Andaz stay here.
How did you land on the theme for this 'Away We Go' collection?
Just thinking about travel and traveling. Moving is a theme I play with a lot in my work, but also not wanting to repeat myself and certain visual aspects, wanting to try something different and adding a new character to the language of my work. I was also creating a challenge for myself. Some of the other characters I’ve created have cultural and historical references to them, so I was looking through history and landed on a group of Black Naval sailors from a tough, tumultuous time, but they persevered, they were successful. They’re very rarely discussed, so I came up with this new character there that still fits within the language of the other work I’ve done in the past.
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I’m glad you mentioned that historical context. I know with your other characters, like Flyboy and Lil Mama, they have names. Does this sailor have a name too?
No, again it's just a reference to the Golden 13, who were Navy men that broke the color barrier for officers. It has weight to it, but it’s meant to be fun and free. When I think about hotels, they’re multifunctional. Like how you arrive at them, it’s always different, whether it’s for business or for pleasure. But it’s always people coming from all parts of the world to other parts of the world to find adventure, to find whatever that means to them. Ultimately, travel is a quest. So thinking about that and trying to make that theme fun and a little light-hearted.
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Some of your gallery shows combine paintings and sculptures into what I’d consider installations. Do you see any similarities between designing an installation and a hotel room?
I think there's a crossover for sure. It’s still a space. Obviously, the functionality of the space is different, but both still present a unique challenge to do something a bit different and to stretch a little bit more. Those challenges can be very fun and these opportunities can be good.
Book an 'Away We Go' room now.
Here, working with Andaz, guests who book one of these 'Away We Go' hotel rooms can bring home the capsule collection you designed, which includes a tote bag, postcard, candle, mug, hoodie, and bathrobe. Did you design the collection for the modern traveler from a functional perspective, or was it more about aesthetic choices?
I designed it with my aesthetic and hope that if somebody new to my work stays in this space, they can grow a new understanding of the work and take that with them on their travels.
Book an 'Away We Go' room now.
Are there other themes or Easter eggs in the 'Away We Go' collection?
There’s the theme of companionship. There’s a little French bulldog that I’ve added as a mascot for the collection. And that speaks to the theme of traveling with friends or traveling to grow your circle. That Frenchie represents traveling and going out to encounter new people. I thought giving this sailor character a travel companion was a cool idea.