Brandon Sadler USA, b. 1986

Brandon Sadler (b.1986) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A in illustration, Sadler received SCAD’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2019 for his murals in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther and his overall artistic career achievements. Renowned for his public murals and graffiti writing, Sadler further explores and experiments on East Asian calligraphy and ink painting.

Sadler investigated the materiality of language and discovered the contact between two seemingly opposing cultures – African American Hip Hop and East Asian Calligraphy – as they both use the movement of writing to cultivate the qí, balancing the internal energy between mind and body, in order to unleash creative expression. He uses letters from the English alphabet to compose symbols that resonate with Chinese character structures. In his work, Breathing With the Sun, aerosol paint creates the subtle dance of abstraction between solid and hazy. The text reads: “The word of God always intervenes with sin. From insight, my inner light beams within,” a quote from RZA’s 2003 song “Chi Kung,” which resonates with Sadler’s aim to achieve a higher state of being through his practice.

In addition to calligraphy, Sadler has extensive practice on figurative ink painting. In The Path of Totality, an expansive ink painting on canvas, he went in a direction that could showcase his design abilities, brushwork, and text. For Sadler, the tiger and the dragon symbolize the East and West, respectively. These iconic East Asian images, whether depicted alone or in battle, serve as popular entry points for Westerners. This year (2024), being the Year of the Dragon, coupled with the recent solar eclipse – referred to in Chinese mythology as an invisible dragon devouring the sun – adds a significant layer of meaning to the work. The painting features a tiger drinking from the river, its attention captivated by the invisible dragon (the solar eclipse). 

Sadler’s works have been exhibited in museums and private collections around the world. In the summer of 2023, he was commissioned by Atlanta’s High Museum of Art to design and build the Pop Culture Gallery and Woodblock Print Gallery – the entry spaces to the High’s Samurai exhibition (June 23 - Sept 17, 2023) and paint original artworks telling the story of Yasuke, “the Black samurai.” In addition to his fine art endeavors, Sadler has successfully collaborated with several major brands such as Disney, Google and Microsoft to infuse his unique artistic vision.