Donyale Luna was the first major black model. She was also in several of Andy Warhol's films, and one of my obsessions. Luna was known to be out of her mind. She would walk down catwalks on her hands and knees and often stated that she was from Mars. She died of a drug overdoes at the age of 34 in 1979. I found this amazing clip of Patty Pravo singing a cover of the Beatles 'Michelle' with Donyale Luna posing on the set. Love it.
Minnie Evans, born in 1897, was a visionary African-American folk artist. Employed by a wealthy white family as a housekeeper, Evans heard a voice which told her to draw or die, so she began to draw. She claims her drawings were inspired by God, and produced through visions that she received by him. Evans once stated, ""this art that I have put out has come from the nations I suppose might have been destroyed before the flood. . . . No one knows anything about them, but God has given it to me to bring [them] back into the world." Her work combines bright colors, figures and nature into intricate designs which reflect her peaceful, loving perspective of God and his connection with all things around us.
One other aspect that I love about Minnie Evans and her work is that it does not seem to come from an black woman working in the south during the early to mid 1900's. During a time of oppression, segregation, and the economic hardships that the black community struggled with during that time, her work has no connection to that but rather reflects a beautiful sense of freedom and serenity. Instead of producing work which represented the social-economic and oppressive situation of African Americans, it focuses only on God's love, beauty, and spirituality.
Maybe the voice telling her to "draw or die" was key to her happiness, peace, and serenity. Her beautiful work provided an outlet from life's troubles and brought her a connection with God, the universe, and inner peace. Above and below are images of Minnie Evans and her folk art.
David Liebe Hart is a public access god, a street artist and musician residing in Los Angeles. On his public access show, The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show, Hart employs the use of puppets (mainly Chip the Black Boy) and music to teach children about God, saying no to drugs, and being a overall great person. I first ran across David Hart on Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job, it 2007. He was singing a song called "Salame" and I immediately fell in love.
I love David Hart and his work. Although his puppets are makeshift, and his music and art are not innovative, he has a passion and a purpose which is clearly illustrated in all of his work. Also, his work is very simple and to the point, and I love and appreciate pure honesty and the stripped nature of any art form. And he is oh so serious about his work.
Below are some clips of David Liebe Hart, his music and his work.
Now the cards are everywhere face in dust The fairground I don't think I ever seen so many headlights But there's something pulling me The circus and the crew Well they're just passing through Making sure the merry still goes round But it's a long, long, long way down - The Killers "This River Is Wild"
Ever since I was a child, something about the carnival/circus life has always fascinated me. Every school paper where I had the freedom to write about anything I wanted to was often about some disease or deformity that was seen at circus and carnival freak shows(my portfolio of work is quiet disturbing). My evenings were spent looking at pickled punks (preserved babies in jars that were seen in freak shows in the early 1900's), and I was chastised in some writing class in college for writing about Lobster Boy who was exhibited in the 70's and 80's (apparently she didn't find that to be high art). And you can imagine my joy after finally finding Mark Browning's 1932 movie "Freaks" at the Naro a few years back. I watched in three times in one day.
My whole obsession with carnivals was wonderfully refreshed this weekend after going to the Virginia State Fair. Nothing screams marginalized communities as much as witnessing real life carnies begging the yokal locals to play a rigged game for the chance to win a gold fish, and looking into the eyes of the 'world smallest woman', who sat calmly in a wooden chair inside a box talking about her life. Seeing these things always refuel my obsession. What causes a person to leave behind their family and friends to travel around the country for low pay and long hours? Why would someone with a difference in physical appearance put themselves on display in a negative way?
I am obsessed with the 'other', marginalized communities which are placed on the fringes of society; outsiders, freaks, anything that is outside of the "norm" that society has created. But I think what I love the most about the carny life is the physical departure from typical life. The decision that they make to travel around the country, work for minimal wage, and be publicly seen as the 'other', and to seemingly be okay with it. It is a juxtaposition of oppression and freedom. Freedom through the release of the societal norm, but oppression with in the binding carny life. These people are publicly seen in a low caste, trapped within a contract to work long, hard, hours for nothing, but at the same time free from the pressures of society. To be different and okay with it is beautiful.
Apparently I'm not the only one obsessed with the carny life, the idea of the 'outsider', and freedom from the societal norm. Carnival life, freaks, and the whole scenario of running away from everything is enchanting, and has inspired art, music, and film. One can simply listen to Daniel Johnsons 'Speeding Motercycle" which was inspired by his decision to run away and work for a carnival. Or "This River Is Wild" by the Killers, which tells the story of someone who has the need to run away and work for the carnival. Diane Arbus body of work bekons the observer to recognized the beauty in the outsider, and Mark Browning's Film 'Freaks' is based off of his fascination with this marginalized community and attempted to show the normality within it.
Below, I have posted videos of film and music which focus on the dynamics which occur in carnival life, directly or indirectly: departure from society, isolation, marginilazation, freaks, etc. Listen, and feel the spirit of the carnival run through your body!
Clip from Freaks "Gooble Goble" Doesn't this say it all
Night Chicas is a collection of photographs from Hans Neleman that reveal the life of Guatemalan prostitutes who work out of brothels. Neleman photographed the women with a sense of compassion and beauty, while illuminating the harsh realities of their lifestyle. The photographs are beautiful, and from my perspective, they allude greatly to paintings during the 1800's and early 1900's of the Olalisque, female slaves that were typically part of a Harem. I've posted some pictures of the Odalisque and of some pictures from the Night Chica's collection.
For a full look of Neleman's Night Chica's, go here: http://zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/neleman/index.html
I love images taken of Africans in Africa during the 1960's and 70's. It's something about the tint of the photographs, the bold prints and bright colors, and the combination of very western technology and clothes with the naturalness of the surroundings. It is beautiful. I love when this is replicated in photographs and film that have been made recently. Below are photographs that I found on Flicker from Sierra Leone in the late 1960's (From Gbaku's page. It's wonderful), a recent ad that alludes to that 1960's Africa vibe, two recent videos that do the same, and Fela Kuti's wonderful afro-beat music.
I found this while being a nerd and poking around an online technology magazine. Ginger Anyhow takes old text messages from a previous romance and embroiders them into cute little swatches of fabric. I love the juxtaposition of the quick, distant, electronic nature of text messages with the carefulness and time that comes with embroidery. The series is chronological, beginning with happy texts and ending with their final text after a break up. Ginger Anyhow takes the electronic distance of of texts and gives them a sense of permanence through the use of thread and fabric, speaking to the lasting damage of a relationship gone wrong.
For the full series of the embroideries, click here: http://gingeranyhow.com/textmessages.html
Youtube's description of how it was made: In Radiohead's new video for "House of Cards", no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.
I wish i could claim ownership of finding this awesome man, but i cant. Someone else did and i am posting this because its so incredibly important. Reggie Watts tackles issues such as race and gender in a comedic way. The weight of his subject-matter is off set by his awesome ability to make you giggle at it......in a nervous and funny way.
In his video Fuck, Shit, Stack he uses crude language in order to comment on the lack of use of proper language within young culture today. He comments on the status of HIGH ART with his "put some fuck on a wall. ananlyze it" commentary, and ties it all together with horrible statements about women and wearing bullet proof vests for no reason, thus commenting on race. The cynicism and sarcasm are so important.
Please watch this video in its entirety. Im also attaching a Santogold song because she is amazing.
im also going to attach one more video about language specifically, taken from def jam poetry by a guy named Taylor Mali.
i vote for complete annihilation of art-speak. we need to take it back down to basic feelings while, like, you know, still declaring things to be, like, true.
Ellen Gallagher's work examines race through the use of ads from black publications or images of blacks. In her piece, DeLuxe, Gallagher exaggerates the wigs and blocks out the eyes of the black women in the wig ad, creating caricature like representation of the black woman.
This piece speaks to age old trend of black women conforming to European standards of beauty, trading in natural hair (in texture and color) for straight and colored hair in order to 'fit in'. On one level, Gallagher's piece is simply an exaggeration of the unnaturalness of the wigs on the black women. The bright yellow cut out brings out the odd shapes of the wigs, making them seem more like geometric headdresses rather than hair. On another level, the yellow wigs represent the hair colors that many black women chose that generally (although their are some exceptions) do not occur naturally within the black race. On the third level, the whiting out of the eyes shows loss of identity. The individuality of the black woman has been melted into white ideals of beauty, making everyone a cookie cutter image of the blond, straight haired prototype of beauty. The whiting of the eyes also adds to the caricature appeal the piece as a whole.
I'm all about people expressing themselves with their hair or whatever else, but when I see black women out on the street, on t.v, in film, or in print with long, blond straight wigs/weaves, there is something that doesn't sit well with me. I don't believe that everyone black women should always embrace their natural hair at all times, but straight blonde hair seems like such a stretch to meet another races standard of beautiful hair. One of the worst examples of this that I have seen was Hottie from Flavor of Love. She wore a long, thick, blonde wig (See image above) for the entire show and when asked if it was a wig, she said had the nerve to say her hair grew out of her head like that! When I looked at Deluxe for the first time, I thought about Hottie. All that blond hair and those big eyes. Hottie is a walking representation of DeLuxe.
(Fabulous picture of Vincent Price as Egghead from Batman)
As a child until my teenage years, I had this obsession with Vincent Price. Anything that had Vincent Price in it, even if it was a sound clip of his voice, I was on it. One of my favorite movies when I was younger was The House of Wax. I could watch it over and over again. There was something about the macabre nature of Vincent Price and his films that I loved, plus the sound of his voice is like a knife cutting through hot butter!
Today while going through Slate.com, I found an article about Vincent Price. Apparently him and his wife were food aficionados and there are several collections of his recipes available. I even found an audio clip of him explaining how to make Viennese eggs!
I am posting this for sheer entertainment value. I just want Vincent Price to come back to life, stroke my hair and read me a bedtime story. Below are youtube clips of Tim Burton's short film 'Vincent', which is narrated by Vincent Price, and Vincent Price's reading of The Raven.
Photographer Jan Van Holleben has a collection of photographs called Dreams of Flying. This collection is absolutely adorable. Van Holleben uses posed figures lying on solid, flat surfaces, to create the illusion of movement. The juxtaposition of the poses imitating movement on flat surfaces create playful images that evoke a happy feeling. When I look at these pictures, I think of moments when I was a child (and even now) where I let my imagination take me away to something fantastic. Even though I might be sitting on a rock alone, I could imagine that I was standing on the moon searching for life. I love that these photographs remind me of that. Below are some of the photographs I found in the collection that I adore.
