scene of the day

Chappelle Show's Anthony Berry skit: "Holla Holla Holla"

scene of the day

Erykah Badu's adaptation of The Color Purple in "On and On" from her debut album, Baduizm.

rendering captivity

Though English artist John Philip Simpson made a bold anti-slavery statement when he presented his painting The Captive Slave to the Royal Academy in 1827, his imagery evokes an unsettling and modern representation of the contemporary captivity of hundreds of thousands of black men today. 

Newly acquired and housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Captive Slave, modeled by famous American actor Ira Aldridge, is rendered heroically, and with dignity and decency. This is a peculiar visual counterpart to emboldened, urgent narratives written by former slaves like Frederick Douglass and Mary Prince, who attempted to convey the terror and inhumanity of the practice of slavery. Terror, in a sense within their literary works, is entailed with bodily and psychological torment. 

The urgency of the abolition of slavery is not so apparent within Simpson's work in this respect.  Sure we see chains, tattered clothing, and black skin, but we also see a hopeful, regal, and composed figure that complicates visceral images of captivity.  With regard to Simpson's representation of enslavement,  how can we consider the efficacy of such work in tandem with the artist's strategic decision to employ a well-known black Shakespearean actor as the sitter?

Moreover, how can we consider this image as a living memory within a historical trajectory of black men and women entrenched within socio-political institutions of postcolonial societies? Just a thought. 

You can check out The Captive Slave at the Art Institute of Chicago. Also, I have provided a link to the blog of Grammy award-winning music producer John Forte, entitled "First Day Out of Prison."

Image: John Philip Simpson, The Captive Slave, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in, 1827

scene of the day

Atlanta-based contemporary artist Fahamou Pecou and his outlandish promotional video.

"street" chic

In the January 24th edition of the New York Times, critic Randy Kennedy profiles artist Shepard Fairey and the National Portrait Gallery's acquisition of his iconographic portrait of President Barack Obama. Kennedy dares to suggest that this move symbolizes the blurring of the lines between fine art and what he labels "street art":

So it has been hailed by street-art fans as a significant moment, the fine-art world beginning to find a way to recognize a movement that has been growing apace for more than a decade, propelled by a generation of artists who grew up with graffiti and now make work on the streets with materials as varied (and sometimes as ephemeral) as paper, plastic, tape, snow, rubber bands and knitted wool.

Since when did the tradition of screen print posters become canonized into the ambiguous category of "street art"? Should artists like Shinique Smith and Jean-Michel Basquiat, who were heavily influenced by the tradition of graffiti, but whose works are most often exhibited inside gallery spaces and museums, be considered "street" artists as well? How about artists like David Hammons and William Pope L., who often utilize "found" public materials within their installations...are they "street" artists as well?

In short, site-specificity, or the spaces in which art is presented and displayed, public or private, plays a large role into how society consumes it. Distinctions like "fine/high" and "low/street" art are constantly being contested in artistic practices today with a merging of formal and technical artistic traditions within particular expressions that extend from specific subcultures and anti-establishment practices. Perhaps it is necessary to re-examine the roles that museum institutions play in presenting so-called "street" art and facilitate public interpretations of the work itself.

Top: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1984, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 86 x 68 in. (218.4 x 172.7 cm)
Bottom: Shinique Smith, Voodoo Children, 2005. Fabric, clothing, accessories and ink. Dimensions variable

scene of the day

An intimate portrayal of the collaborative work of America's most celebrated artists, the late Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.

scene of the day

Check out the student-produced short film on textile artist and sculptor Yinka Shonibare: Questioning Authenticity in African Art: Yinka Shonibare

the dream: revisited

American photographer Gordon Parks (1912-2006) framed some of the most prolific moments in our country's history. Today's post is a tribute to him, as he is one of many Americans who could not witness yesterday's momentous occasion. Parks' powerful rendition of American Gothic (Ella Watson, 1942) is a befitting photograph because it serves as necessary reminder to keep the past within the present. Parks' work keeps alive the legacy of hundreds of thousands of African-Americans who struggled in hopes that one day we could be one nation, under God, indivisible...with liberty and justice for all. Though we are not there yet, the legacies of our forebearers encourage and motivate us to progress forward, one step at a time. You can check out more of Parks' works in Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art in Evanston, Il in April 2009.

Image: Gordon Parks, American Gothic, photograph, 1942.

scene of the day

President Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech

hope

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day! Inauguration is literally hours away...take a moment to observe the monumentality of this historic occasion. Just BE.


Image: Shepard Fairey, Hope, screenprint