On
Friday morning, I was able to go see Rashaad Newsome speak about what it is
like to be at a crossroads of theatre-film-music-art and collaborating with
other types of artists. Before attending his talk, I had never heard of him,
but was so glad to realize his existence, because of some of my musical tastes
fall in line with his art. He was interesting because he wasn’t put into some ‘compartmentalized
formal art box’, but had a creative spirit that was truly free to explore the
realms of whatever media seemed most appropriate for the message he was trying
to spread in the world. He comments on this too- that these sorts of orderly
‘programs’ in formal art training have a place, but are not everything. The
only thing he was actually formally trained in was film.
Hearing
him talk about his pieces (specifically Shade
Compositions and his collages), I was reminded of some of my favorite
musicians that have been born out of New York recently in the past few years
including Mykki Blanco, Le1f, and Shamir Bailey – all black musicians posing a
new take on stereotypical hip hop culture. Through a Mykki Blanco/Le1f concert I
attended, and knowing Shamir Bailey personally through mutual friends, I think
what they’re doing in the scene is awesome. Their missions are along that same
lines as Rashaad- challenging norms of hip-hop black culture, (compare giving
back black vernacular in ‘Shade
Compositions’, and giving back the freedom to be a black gay man in Le1f’s
song ‘Wut’), and giving agency of
cultural appropriations back to the original population. In Friday’s conversation,
a woman commented to Rashaad how appreciative she was for him making art that
exists as a part of NYC based hip-hop culture that doesn’t necessarily fit the
lines of misogynistic male-centric glorified glam and gold, but something that
makes you respects women, and questions the problematic themes that exist in
the scene. He explained his thoughts on feminism, which I thought were significant.
Feminism, to Newsome, is giving agency to someone; allowing someone to
demonstrate their personality the way they’d like without being judged. If
that’s the case, I think his work could be seen with a feminist aesthetic, as
well as a lot of other alternative counter culture hip-hop art and music that
is on the rise in New York City recently.
3 comments:
One key thing that you pointed out, that I really was inspired by was Rashaad Newsome's use of his creative spirit. He isn't afraid to push the boundaries of his artwork and continues to explore the realms of whatever medium is most intune with the work he creating, and the message he is portraying. I personally, have been trying to branch out of my comfort zone and create work that encompasses multimedia and mixed media based on the context and concept that I want to portray. I think the range of Newsome's work is incredible, from collages, to programed drawings. He seems to dabble in a little bit of everything.
I wish I was there for the discussion that took place on Friday morning because on Thursday evening we were unable to ask questions due to going over the time limit. I think it would have been really interesting to hear his views on feminisim. I'm glad you shared that his view was that it is giving agency to someone; allowing someone to demonstrate their personality the way they'd like to be judged. I think understanding his way of thinking and these ideas truly dictates his work. Thanks for sharing that!
No problem Cat! I'm glad you enjoyed my points. I think you should push the limits of your work too; he was really only formally trained in film, and was able to make a way to get whatever he wanted done by making tools for himself.
He described uncomfortable new processes as a 'means for an end'- as in, he sometimes didn't know exactly how to use a certain program or didn't know where to go next, but by collaborating with people who had different skill sets, or just trying to create a new tool to get his work where he wanted it to be himself, he was able to get through any program that he wanted in efforts to make the vision of art he had in mind. It's cool you drew inspiration from him, and seeing your photos before, I know that you would be more than capable of breaking the bounds of formal art technique in such a neat way!
Molly, I am so glad you went to the talk on Friday! I was unable to, and I enjoyed hearing your summary and remarks on it. I especially love what you said at the end, about the woman and Newsome's views on feminism. I think that his views are very important, and important for the art world and world in general. He explains what feminism really is an equality among people to be and express themselves without being criticized or judged for it. I feel like a lot of his other work tends to show these ideas. In his talk that I attended his piece Five shows Vogue dancing that I think would be confusing to others who are not as accepting of other ideas, or tend to believe in a lot of gender stereotypes. He creates a piece that is amazingly beautiful. How Newsome described the dancing was not an expression of gender, but an expression of individuality. It sounds like this theme is present in a lot of his pieces. I think his views are important, and I cannot wait until this world is as accepting of the individual in all of it's uniqueness as Newsome is and is through his work.
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