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Drama, race collide at Goodman Theatre - Chicago Sun Times
Off-Center Refractions of African-American Worlds - New York Times

video cult(ure)

Santogold's Creator. Because she's the ish.

afro-pop swag?

Today's artist highlight is that of South African artist Mustafa Maluka. His wall-sized portraits of anonymous yet intriguingly beautiful subjects have been seen most recently in the exhibition Flow at the Studio Museum in Harlem this past summer, which explored what it means to be an "afropolitan," globe-trotting artist.

Critic Rose Oluronke Ojo writes:

"Maluka sees [his figures] as "invented heroes." His goal was to create people he would like to look up to. Each member of Maluka's multiethnic, multihued and multi-textured ensemble may seem familiar to some at first because of the manner in which they are posed, the emphasis on style and fashion, and the titles of the portraits."

Nonetheless, Ojo continues on to describe the artist's process:

"How I produce these paintings, the portraits especially, is that I collect images with a particular gaze. They need to exude a particular strength and pride."

While Ojo suggests that Maluka is taking cues from Pop Art, given his use of textures, bright colors, and mixed mediums, I would like to suggest that Maluka's fresh-faced portraits could indicate the essence youth as the arbiters of contemporary pop culture. Clearly Maluka himself is articulating the quite dreadful and overworked term "swag" here...but nonetheless his imagery is striking, vivid, and indeed captivating.

Image: Mustafa Maluka, I can't believe you think that of me, 2007.