Cute Brute on his collaboration with HATTER Pride 2023
In 2015, Brooklyn-based illustrator Cute Brute started posting his cheeky and irreverent designs on Instagram and immediately found an utterly delighted audience. His unapologetically queer characters not only captured the individuality of the LGBTQ+ community – of which he is a proud member – but struck a much-needed humorous note in a world beset by bad news when it comes to queer rights.
Two butts sharing a bowl of spaghetti? Dreamy. A character taking a bite out of someone’s arm during a hug? Delicious.
As long-standing fans of Cute Brute, it was a no-brainer for HATTER to approach a collaboration for our Pride 2023 programme. We share the same dedication to joyful impulsiveness, inclusivity, and pushing boundaries – and we couldn’t be happier with the result. The collection is called ‘A Little Respect’ and it characterises everything we believe Pride is about: pride and pleasure, passion and humour, respect and representation.
Now that ‘A Little Respect’ is out in the world (with all proceeds going to charity), we sat down with Cute Brute to dig a bit deeper into the inspiration behind the collab, his feelings on Pride, and whether we can persuade him to fly over from the US to join us on our boat in the Amsterdam Canal Parade this August!
Playful, colourful, cheeky and irreverent. Kind of like me! It’s always meant to be playful and humorous – two key tenets of being queer – with a little bit of edge. Edgy with a wink. The body of work that I produce can range from titillating to just totally stupid, and I love to play within those two boundaries. I hate being pigeon-holed. I hate it when people try to lock down the vibe – I automatically find myself shifting the other way when that happens.
I started Cute Brute in 2015 as a personal exercise to draw for myself, rather than for other people, which is what I’ve largely done throughout my career. It was during my early days on Instagram and I tasked myself to draw on a regular basis – everyday or every other day – and just put it out there. I figured maybe nobody would ever see them so they were just little fun drawings of cute, weird, queer characters that I enjoyed. This one moustachioed character in particular I feel very fondly for. He became almost representative of my stream of consciousness – I would reflect on what I’d got up to that summer and play it out through him. And the response was great! It connected in a way I did not anticipate and I discovered this amazing ecosystem of queer people, artists and creative collaborators.
Yes! A lot of the colours, form, styling and subject matter is almost nostalgic – kind of retro 1970s and 1980s. There are little things within the design that feel like the kinds of things I used to draw as a kid. For example, the animals often look like the things you’d get in a playset. There’s actually a toy I used to have when I was about four – a seaside wharf town – that would stick to the side of the bath with a suction cup and it was so Cute Brute! When I think over this body of work, it’s four-year-old me with a toy. I wanted to live in that world! I still do. So I think this is me contributing to and expanding that in some way.
As a queer illustrator who specialises in queer art, I have, historically, been asked to contribute to quite a lot of Pride events or collabs – and there have been some I’ve felt really icky about. A lot of the stuff that comes out at this time of year can feel disingenuous and I soured on a lot of them. So I was incredibly happy to jump into this collab with HATTER because I felt it was authentically queer. It didn’t feel like marketing, it felt like a real conversation with the community.
It felt fun, organic and playful – candles? stickers? Amsterdam? Yes! Let’s do this. And during my conversations with Simon [Simon Hatter, company founder], I felt like we were completely in sync in terms of sensibility and vibe. The passion and humour with which he spoke about the project spoke to me. I think I drew like 16 different concepts at first and – as any freelancer will know – the client usually picks the shittiest one! Not this time! Simon liked what I liked and said things like, “We’re going to roll the dice on this one and I really love this, but can we push it more?” which was great.
It didn’t feel like a business brief! It just felt like a really fun project I got to do with cool people. I feel like we’re all cut from the same cloth already. So I’m really happy to show up and bring that love into this. It clicked. A dream project.
My favourite character is the character listening to headphones that are plugged into their butt. I love it! If you could distil Cute Brute into one image, it would be that one. It’s dumb, silly, playful and cute!
When it comes to creating characters for Pride, I’m very mindful of representation. If we’re going to do a collage of different personalities and everything, at the forefront of my mind is ensuring we don’t have a majority of one ethnicity or gender or body type. I loved the conversation I was having with HATTER about being really inclusive. And, with my characters, you can go all out. I mean, one is a ’roided out duck and another a dog – it doesn’t have to be a human.
For this design, I know I wanted it to be a party, but it wasn’t until I started plotting characters that I could see how they fed off each other. So it’s like: here’s a man next to a monkey, next to a gender-queer person, next to a woman, next to a mushroom. And the best feedback I got from Simon was, “This sums up Positive Recklessness. This really feels like HATTER.”
When I think of Pride, the word ‘family’ springs to mind. It’s that milestone of the summer when you come together with your friends and chosen family and are part of something special with the wider community. Whether you’re going to a march or to some drinks, the overarching message is truly one of pride. I personally love the word ‘queer’ – it encompasses so much – and Pride for me is about bringing together this crazy playground of personalities and individuality. Anything goes! And I feel like with this work, I’ve cracked that sentiment.
Every year, I feel my part in, and understanding of, the queer world progressing and I’ve come to rely on and truly appreciate the bursts of humour. The ‘what the fuck?!’ moments! I love that we’ve arrived at a place where we can value silliness – because we need it. Although, to be fair, hasn’t it always been our job as queer people to lighten the load? We obviously deal with some pretty heavy shit – and have historically managed that with levity.
I feel like this only works if we’re all in it together and helping each other out. Art has always kind of been my strongest contribution, so, if I can, I want to use that tool to give back. In many ways, Cute Brute is when I finally found my voice and so it feels amazing that sharing that might help other people within my community.
I would love to! I need to lock down tickets and plans, but it might be on the cards! Pride in Amsterdam is definitely something I would love to experience and I’d love to meet all of you in person. I need to lock this down!
Discover the full Cute Brute ‘A Little Respect’ range here.
Lose yourself in the moment. Say, “F*** it, let’s see what happens”. Channel your inner desire to play. Stop caring about what anyone else thinks.
Fully embracing joyful impulsiveness – that’s Positive Recklessness HATTER-style. It’s about creating spaces where boundaries can be pushed, limits can be tested, and worries can be forgotten. It’s about finding moments of magic in the everyday and building experiences that can change lives.