Terence Byas aka Dredske
The complacency we often harbor towards our reality is called into question through the imagery of Chicago-based artist Dredske. While his work takes on many forms—painting, murals, illustrations, and more—they each offer a vision that contorts our understanding of societal truths. Through brilliant colors and dynamic gestures, the figuration of his work subverts tradition. Questioning issues of race and systemic injustice in the African American community, his imagery opens up dialogues about our collective human condition.
Whether it be acrylics or aerosols, his work takes shape through an organic flow. While naturalistic, building upon real people, places, or paintings from the past, he adds his own loose gestation, geometries, and unsettling color palettes that entice us to examine them further. The everyday objects or classical imagery we thought we knew becomes infused with a style distinctly Dredske, balancing social critique with elements of the fantastical.
He takes on popular culture, science, technology, capitalism, history, and art to change the way we comprehend how these elements of our lives function. He embraces a philosophy of cultural disobedience. Retaliating against the idealization of art, the monopolies that rule over the products that become tied to cultural identities, or the perpetuation of ideologies through symbols of status, he overthrows the methods that have supported prevailing power structures. Whether it be through reimagining fashion subcultures like Supreme or recreating the famed paintings of Neoclassical French artists, his brush dismantles the pedestals of power.
Dredske, born Terence Lashawn Byas, shifts our perspective of culture, history, and everyday life through vibrant distortions of reality as we know it. Born, raised, and currently based in Chicago, Illinois, he has formed a career as a painter, illustrator, and muralist that synthesizes foundational techniques of artmaking with street art, abstraction, and his personal vision of the world. Tackling issues of race, identity, and culture from the African American perspective, he challenges viewers to rethink how we relate to the prevailing structures of power.
At only four years old, Dredske was on his path to becoming an artist. He watched as his uncle filled his sketchbook with illustrations. It revealed to him the human element that hid behind the cartoons he would watch. He began with markers and crayons and continued to study through his high school career, eventually studying painting and illustration. He taught himself the techniques of the artists, creating representational works of people throughout history and the environments he saw in the city.
Determined to succeed, he embraced the hustle culture of Chicago to exhibit his work, often using the walls of the city to share his visions. Interests in culture, science, and technology evolved into explorations of power, history, and capitalism, dissecting the intersections with race and the African American experience.
-
Unsung Heroes
Terence Byas aka Dredske 20 Apr - 1 Jun 2024 BrooklynWhen it comes to challenging how we approach issues of race, disparity, and social critique, Dredske’s paintings have transported us to speculative realities that allow us to ask unforeseeable questions....Read more -
In Plain Sight
Group show 1 Sep - 14 Oct 2023 SohoIn Plain Sight brings together a diverse selection of contemporary artists who have worked around the United States and abroad and share their distinctive perspectives on the lived experience of...Read more
