Monday, February 6, 2012

The Sound of LIght: Reflections on Art HIstory in the Visual Culture of Hip-Hop

This essay by Krista Thompson contextualizes the hip-hop culture and its reference to art history, specifically talking about two artist Luis Gispert and Kehinde Wiley. A couple of key things I took away from this was:


  • Material Consumption


  • "Bling"


  • Surfacisim, the power of surface light
As television came of age in the 1980's so did the use of music video's and the mass circulation of media, music and written word. The hip-hop culture recognized a specific style of dress and fashion. The rapper was a visual manifestation of this new found culture. However, this stereotype was widely known by such rappers as Ludacris, Lil Jon, Diddy, Missy Elliot and many more. This idea of material consumption came from these stereotypes of rappers decked in gold chains, grills, ridding in the most expensive cars and always with bottle of champagne and expensive liquors. These became a cultural explosion of a certain type of youth. Another aspect of the hip-hop culture was the "garb," pants that sagged below you bottom, big t-shirts 3 sizes too big and flat brim hats that covered your eyes. Automatically when I am describing this I think of one music video specifically, 99 Problems by Jay-Z

With the rise of television and a new cultural genre of music, came the fads that do every new awakening (of a sort). The word "Bling" came into existence and has been defined many different ways by Krista Thompson. First she refers to the words as a visual effect, not just flashy objects or one's "self-aggrandizing" portrayal as a work of art. Yet, she then goes to explain how Oxford English Dictionary defines it which I find kind of funny that it is in the dictionary? Anyways, there definition says, "to represent the visual effect of light being reflected on precious stones and metals." I have heard this word mean many things but never would I expect a dictionary to say its an effect of light. Personally, I have heard the term used to describe the amount of jewels on an item, the presence of a jewel on a necklace or outfit or to brag about some kind of extravagance. As I was growing up, my sister and I had very different styles and she and my mother would always refer to my sister as the "bling" child, whereas I was not (thank god). By definition I think the word Bling has reappropriated itself to fit a situation because it cannot simply mean one thing, for it is such an ambiguous word in itself. 

Now to mention the two artist that this essay had been referring to throughout Luis Gispert and Kehinde Wiley. Both are Yale MFA grads that are painters and refer to the hip-hop culture through referencing techniques and styles of posture, light, gravity and spacial awareness. 

First I will mention Kehinde Wiley.



Wiley's portraits of black men in hip-hop attire are given different poses to chose from and from there Wiley photographs the men doing these and then makes an oil painting using the European baroque aesthetic to portray them in. These images if you look close have a halo of light that emanates from their heads as if they are important figures. Wiley plays with the fashion of new age and the collapse of time with oil paint and the postures each figures assumes. "By superimposing the opulent worlds of rulers and rappers, Wiley sought to visualize conventions for representing power in European portraiture on the surface of his paintings." The light and surface is an important source for Wiley, literally he is using light as a mode of translation. 


Thompson refers to this kind of sultry light emanating from the skin and goes back to the days of slavery. She explains that slave owners would gloss their slaves in order to show their superiority or to increase their worth. Its like when you see something really shiny, you assume it has great value or it is worth more then you expect (at least that is what I assume). Another example would be animals are attracted to shiny objects more then the dull, matte surface.  Just something to think about. 






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