Cesar Conde, according to Chicago Artists Resource, is a Filipino American social activist artist and contemporary painter based in Chicago, who uses his paint and brush as powerful tools for sparking critical conversations on social justice and social change. He studied at Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, and his art has been exhibited in Chicago, Florida, Italy, the Philippines, and Taipei.
From February 20 through March 26, an exhibition entitled Collision will be debuting two of Conde’s recent works in the Elephant Room Gallery in Chicago. Collision combines two series, entitled In the Hood – Portraits of African American Professionals Wearing a Hoodie and The Bang Bang Project.
In the Hood is a series of 12 large-scale paintings of African American professionals, men and women, wearing a hoodie. Conde was inspired by the tragedy of African American teenager Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in a Florida neighborhood in 2012 while wearing a hoodie.
The Bang Bang Project, conceptualized by Conde the day Michael Brown’s killer was acquitted, is a series of staged portraits featuring artistic collaborators posing in honor of the lives tragically lost at the hands of police officers. During the project’s tour, Conde’s portraits were combined with captivating live performance by writer and theater director Mignon Stewart McPherson, to encourage open discussions on police brutality, racial profiling, race-relations, stigmas, and wrongful deaths.
Preview The Bang Bang Project here: