Bryant Yarborough- I create art under the moniker Bonafide Icon, a name that describes the- larger than life- athletes and sports iconography that influences most of my art. My early Bonafide Icon work was in the form of sports graphics that i screen printed on tees and sold in small urban clothing boutiques and independent street wear shops. I am currently in the process of creating an archive of paintings that pay homage to different aspects of urban culture.
Historically, stained glass was used to depict religious scenes, saints and iconography significant to the time period. I use this aesthetic to illustrate subjects of glorification and prestige, or things that are held in high regard in urban culture.
Bonafide Icon Glory Days paintings feature athletes depicted in a prestigious and majestic manner, using a stained glass aesthetic. This is, in part, to pay homage to a nostalgic era of basketball and its superstars, and is also a reference to the glorification of athletes and sports in urban culture.
The Grail Sneaker Archive series portrays some of the most classic basketball sneakers of all time in a stained glass aesthetic. The series symbolizes the cultural obsession and glorification of sneaker collecting while simultaneously managing to pay homage to the beautiful design and history that each one of these sneakers posses.
Iconic sports teams logos illustrated in a stained glass aesthetic, symbolizing the fanatical nature of sports idolization.