Resistance, Existence, Time, Space & Blackness

BRANDAN “BMIKE” ODUMS’ TRUTH-TELLING ACTIVISM.

“NEW ORLEANS IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN JUST fall into art,” says Brandan “Bmike” Odums. “You can find it anywhere, without a cost of admission.” We’re sitting in his office at Studio BE, the 35,000 square-foot Bywater warehouse space he’s turned into a center for his activism-through-art. In addition to housing his sprawling “Ephemeral. Eternal” exhibit, the building is the central nervous system of a globally recognized movement including educational programs, panel discussions, film, merchandise and more. A massive yellow exterior wall adorned with a young, haloed Black girl with hands outstretched greets visitors.

Anyone who lives in New Orleans has seen—or “fallen into”—work by Bmike, though perhaps unknowingly. Odums refers to himself as a “public artist” who prefers painting faces on a building rather than on framed canvases. Whether it’s his mural of Buddy Bolden on S. Rampart Street, the bygone New Orleans East “Wall of Peace” inspired by Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam,” or the Treme mural honoring the late musician Trumpet Black, his work punctuates our daily lives without requiring much effort from us. Known primarily for his use of vibrant spray paint-based portraiture, his art encourages conversations about resistance, existence, time, space and Blackness.

The NAACP Image Award-winning creator (who will showcase his first solo “museum” show, “Not Supposed to BE Here,” at Tulane University in January 2020) produced more than a dozen murals and room-sized installations for “Ephemeral. Eternal,” his debut solo exhibit. That’s right. His first solo exhibit is housed in a 35,000 square-foot building. It serves as an example of the audacious, purposeful, largescale approach that makes a Bmike piece instantly recognizable.