Brandon Sadler

Brandon Sadler is an Atlanta artist known for his use of Chinese calligraphy and other Asian art forms in his work. He is a multidisciplinary artist whose interests have formed from his involvement with graffiti. Brandon has a degree in fine art from Atlanta College of Art. While he is most renowned for his public work as part of the Atlanta Beltline and Living Walls he has also had work collected by the High Museum of Art. Through non-profit organizations such as One Love Generation Brandon has created and taught classes at both Savannah College of Art and Design and Morehouse College.

The first mural on Irwin Street was the largest mural Sadler had done at the time and I believe it still is at 100′ long by 10′ high. The koi fish are symbols of peace and prosperity and the lotus represents enlightenment and divinity. They are floating through waves of gold. It is meant to carry viewers down the street as if they were the waves themselves.

This second piece was done for the Living Walls Conference 2013 on North Avenue.

A third mural was done for the Beltline’s Art on the Beltline project in 2013. This piece is part of the Art on the Beltline Permanent collection and is under the Virginia Ave bridge. There was a lot of drama surrounding this piece as it covered up a mural that was done by Sever for the Beltline. Early on in the Beltline’s art project they asked sever to paint the wall but didn’t have any money to pay him at that time so he did it as a favor. the mural was of a Mickey Mouse type hand (seen below) with Sever written in large letters next to it. As the Beltline was constructed they decided they didn’t like so much that he put his name on it. In addition, because they never paid him they felt like it was not a commissioned piece and had Brandon do a new mural in its place. I was told that the Japanese looking characters are just for looks and don’t actually mean anything, but I’d have to check with someone who knows Japanese to be sure. EDIT: The “Japanese” characters are actually American letters made to look Japanese.

 (not my picture)

Lastly, this is a painting that Sadler did for Bottle Rocket in Castleberry Hill. There are 3 like it out front of the restaurant.