Meet Bryan Danial Joseph of Dada Soulface Artworks in Addison

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Danial Joseph.

Bryan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have always drawn or made things throughout my life. In sixth grade, I remember drawing a lot of whales, sharks, spaceships, and Michael Jordan pictures. As I got older and in my teens, my focus was skateboarding, hip-hop, and punk cultures. All three cultures came to a head in late 80’s and meshed and blended. For me it was the skate culture being the pot it was all stirred in. These three cultures I believe heightened my sense of strong and bold imagery. Skating, hip-hop, and punk I think relied a lot on a pastiche of different sources for their own existence. In college, I attempted to go to school for graphic design and that lasted for a year and a half. I lost interest in graphic design. I came home and went into healthcare. I stopped doing any kind of art at all.

Fast forward to 1998. A good friend of mine Paul Sigwerth started to share an art studio space in downtown Aurora, IL with a bunch of other local artists from our hometown in Aurora. The former artists that had occupied the space had left a ton of books on art and I started reading them. I eventually got a space there. I experimented and played there. Absorbing other artists and throwing group shows all while working full time in healthcare. I believe we had the run of 32 s. River st studios for about eight years until the building was bought by Waubonsee College for their expansion. Without the space to create, I once again stopped making any art. I eventually got married and had more kids but I started to slowly dabble in making collages just for a stress reliever.

Around 2012/13 someone put out a call for an art show in downtown Aurora again. I did the show with a handful of very talented artists, this was the time I started working under an alter ego by the name of Dada Soulface (or Dadasoulface) on Tumblr. I started making futurist and surrealist free-form stream of consciousness collages that were starting to get reblogged and respected. I submerged myself in collage. Using vintage magazines and antique books I mastered the art of cut and paste collage within a year. During this time, people were messaging me about commissions or collages that they wanted to buy. In 2013, I was also emailed an invite to have my afrofuturist collages featured in a festival at WORM Rotterdam (The WORM is a center for Avante-Garde arts in the Netherlands). They were putting together a roster of Black artists throughout the world that represented different aspects of the African diaspora’s take on sci-fi. The festival was called AFROFUTURISM NOW. The fest was largely made up of musicians and I was the featured visual artist. I did one poster for them and they cataloged my afrofuturists works at that time. Funny thing is, about a week ago it was brought to my attention that the graphic designer’s name that worked on my catalog is over my artwork on the WORM’s website. So, it fraudulently looks like he did the artwork!!?? Right now I am in the process of trying to sort that out. That is my reputation and name. I have to see if the problem came from the designer or the website.

I have not stopped doing shows, commissions, and collage illustrations for small independent musicians and magazines. My ultimate goal is to spread my brand of art Soulface Dadaism (“Collage Art for the Unglued”) to the world with my unique and mostly absurd artworks. Some of the most absurd things in the world are racism, sexism, or prejudice against another sexual orientation. My work frequently addresses society and race, income gaps and the general problems that actively divide humanity. Sometimes, this is straightforward and sometimes, I use symbols in the form of cut out paper clippings to express my thoughts on these things. I absorb what the world throws at me only to amalgamate it within my soul only to throw it right back with love and light.

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely NOT a smooth road. I still have a part-time job for health care needs and insurance. Art takes time and space and when you have a family that time and space have to be used wisely. Right now I am without a studio space so it’s tougher for me to work on larger pieces of artwork, and that is the next step in my work. I want a larger visual impact and sometimes size matters.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dada Soulface Artworks story. Tell us more about the focus of your work.
On my personal Facebook page, it says, “I kill ancient books and slice thru vintage periodicals to harvest their souls for remixing and rearranging. Essentially changing their purpose in the world.” That’s what I do.

I am known for my complex hand cut collages. I try to use very little technology as possible. Collage art is becoming very popular now. What sets me apart from other collagists is style and my sharp eye for composition. Plus I like to say something in my work. I have commentary that I know is unique to this world.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Art and illustration industry is pretty fickle. I don’t worry about trends or changes. I continue on my own path as an artist/individual visual storyteller. I have no master.

Contact Info:

• Website: dadasoulface.tumblr.com
• Email: dadasoulface@yahoo.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/dadasoulface
• Facebook: facebook.com/soulfacedada
• Twitter: @soulfacedada
• Other: dadasoulface.tumblr.com

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