Dante Yarbrough's Page

Dante

Dante Yarbrough was born in East Cleveland, Ohio.  He earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia where he currently resides and works. 

For the last decade, Dante has been exhibiting paintings of the body, in varying forms, as they manifest in his imagination. From sensual, to the mundane, to the ethereal, Dante’s figures float, flail, and hide within his painterly and highly gestural style.  His canvases and wood panels range from figurative, to expressionist, to abstract.        

Dante’s work at large is concerned with issues provoked by the fragility of mankind and the way in which both humanity’s indiscretions and triumphs contribute to a larger social body.  The artist’s mission is to:

“…create art that mimics true life experiences, by embracing what pleases me but also that which disturbs me.  Even those experiences that are not so positive, I aim to articulate in a beautiful way.”

Dante has exhibited in solo and group shows in Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Columbus and Cleveland, OH; Louisville, KY; Nashville, TN; New York, NY; Tempe, Arizona; and Washington, D.C.  He has been commissioned by Clark Atlanta University, West Georgia University (Carrollton), Red Oak Community Center (Fulton County, Georgia), the City of Atlanta, and HJ Russell & Company.  He was the commissioned artist for the Verizon Wireless 2009 advertising campaign, How Sweet the Sound.  As well as his work being seen on MTV Cribs, his most recent New York solo exhibit, Eclipsing Corporeality: Depictions of and Beyond the Body, was featured on BET on a segment highlighting art in New York.

The artist’s work has been acquired by many notable corporate and private collections including Vanderbilt University, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Ambassador Andrew Young, Atlanta’s Chief of Police Richard Pennington, actress Anna Marie Horsford, author Nathan McCall, the America’s Mart (Atlanta, GA), the Frank Ski Foundation, Drs. Jeff and Sivan Hines, Mr. and Mrs. Elzy and Evern Epps, broadcast journalist Ed Gordon, and Hill Harper.

His awards include the 2008 Purchase Prize presented for his piece, "Absent Curriculum," during the 14th Annual African American Art Exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky.  Dante was also named the featured artist for the 20th Anniversary of the National Black Arts Festival in 2008.