Glenn Hardy Jr. "Building Identities Through Style" @ Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles
Charlie James Gallery is pleased to present Glenn Hardy Jr.: Building Identities Through Style, the Washington, DC-based artist’s third exhibition with the gallery. With this show, Hardy examines how identity is read, evaluated, and negotiated through appearance—how clothing, hair, and presentation become social shorthand for character, belonging, and value. Rather than treating style as a site of self-celebration alone, Hardy is interested in the pressures that arise once identity becomes legible, and in the subtle negotiations individuals make within systems of judgment. His figures move through systems that reward conformity and measure difference, revealing how belonging is often conditional rather than assured. Hardy not only interrogates the manner in which Black bodies are seen and assessed, but also the ways in which stylistic excellence has become both reputational armor and a source of joy, experimentation, and play.
January 21, 2026
