Rashaad Newsome
is a very awesome artist. His work is very unique in my opinion. His work
definitely shares similar elements of photography. Even though most of his
works are videos, you can see elements of photography in his work. His work is
a combination of black and white work and color work. This is the same in
photography. One of his pieces was about the role of a Harold. The piece had a
very medieval theme. For example, it is about coats of arms and tournaments.
Each piece is framed. But the frames are not ordinary frames. The frames are
oddly shaped and grab the viewer’s attention. In addition, the piece also is
combined with very intense music that grabs the viewer’s attention. Photography
often has elements that grab people’s attention, and make them look at the
piece closer. Rashaad Newsome definitely uses that tactic. For the piece Harold
he looked at different forms of architecture. The piece was the final video in
the Kingdom of Arms series. The colors that were common in Harold was gold and
black. The frames around the piece are ornamental that uses flower designs.
They took photos of the frames. The angles used were visually appealing. The
props were photographed and framed. His work was so popular that in New
Orleans, June 21st is Kingdom of Arms day. Rashaad Newsome art has
its own holiday. Another piece he showed was very unique. It used dancers and a
very special camera. Six different dancers were used to make the piece. The
dancers were dressed in an all black outfit. Color was only scene in the hair
and lips. Some of the colors used were green, yellow, and red. While the dancer
was dancing, the camera ignored them and only captured the colors and motions
while the dancers were moving. Rashaad Newsome work is very cool.
3 comments:
Personally, I wasn't the biggest fan of his Harold works. However, I would agree that the frames certainly grabbed the viewers attention. I think the framing played a huge role in setting the tone of his work. I like how you compared your own work to his work depsite different mediums.
I would agree with you that the use of techonology and dancers was really captivating. I would have to say that was one of my favorite pieces he completed. I think what made his piece Five and the other dancing pieces more apprealing to me was the idea of collaboration and tracking movement and time. In my own photography I am highly interested in this concept of time. It is interesting to see the translation between the human body's movements to drawings through computer coding. I am eager to see where this branches out in his career.
Personally, I wasn't the biggest fan of his Harold works. However, I would agree that the frames certainly grabbed the viewers attention. I think the framing played a huge role in setting the tone of his work. I like how you compared your own work to his work depsite different mediums.
I would agree with you that the use of techonology and dancers was really captivating. I would have to say that was one of my favorite pieces he completed. I think what made his piece Five and the other dancing pieces more apprealing to me was the idea of collaboration and tracking movement and time. In my own photography I am highly interested in this concept of time. It is interesting to see the translation between the human body's movements to drawings through computer coding. I am eager to see where this branches out in his career.
On Friday, Rashaad actually went into detail on the process of choosing the frames for Harold works, and how and why he made them the way he did. They weren't just to grab the attention of the viewer (though they most certainly do), but they are to represent how over the top hip-hop culture can be in terms of glitz and glam. The frames are actually antiques that he got spraypainted at an autobody shop in NYC- he paid to have them done there, to symbolize how people show off their wealth via their car decor. He also noted that this was a real sticking point- that the workers at the shop didn't understand why he wanted old antique frames painted by them. It was a strange clash of understanding he had to overcome. Which brings me to the next point about the frames- he stated that he used antique frames to compare this same over the top glitz and glamour found nowadays in hip hop culture that was also used in the time of Louis XIV of France, along with other baroque era extravagance. The way to display power hasn't changed in centuries, and he wanted to call attention to that.
I thought those were interesting fun facts that added a whole new element of understanding and appreciation to his work that I otherwise maybe would have not realized. Maybe it will for you too!
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