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拍品專文
Rashaad Newsome's entire oeuvre, including collage, video and performance art, builds new cultural monuments out of the fragments of pop culture. Newsome begins with high culture forms from chamber music to heraldry and recreates them using his artistic arsenal, which includes diamond bling and hip-hop imagery. The present work, Sun King, represents the culmination of several strands of his work: history, the juxtaposition of high and pop art and the exploration of African-American culture. In Sun King, the artist has collaged a coat of arms in an ornately carved antique frame. Coats of arms have particular significance for the artist who believes they are "really a collage of objects that represent social status and economic status and status as a warrior." Therefore, "they're kind of like portraits without using the figure." Newsome has even constructed a coat of arms for himself - consisting of fleur-de-lys (symbolic of his hometown, New Orleans), black alligator skin and a baseball hat with crown details meant to symbolize 'urban royalty' - which he considers a coat of arms to be a self-portrait of sorts.
The imagery in Sun King, as in much of Newsome's work, is sourced from hip-hop magazines, such as XXL and the Source (fresh bling, women's legs, car rims, marijuana) and luxury publications - including auction catalogues. The lavish nature of the present work seems to be a natural fit with hip-hop, which is often thought of as a self-referential art form obsessed with status, class and gilded accessories. This connection between luxury and hip-hop becomes even clearer when one considers the idea that, in the words of the artist, "Everybody wants to be the king of hip-hop" (M. Ryzik, "Blending Hip-Hop and Heraldry," New York Times, October 20, 2011). By Notorious BIG being the subject of the piece, Newsome equates the rapper's status with one that would traditionally be occupied by a king. Newsome further plays with this juxtaposition of old and new traditions with his customization of the ornate frame around the collage. With his use of meticulously applied metalic flake automobile lacquer, he alludes to pop culture via a practice many hip-hop artists engage in - embellishing their cars. By painting an already ornate frame with motifs such as fists and dollar signs, Newsome combines baroque-style ornamentation with that of hip-hop.
The imagery in Sun King, as in much of Newsome's work, is sourced from hip-hop magazines, such as XXL and the Source (fresh bling, women's legs, car rims, marijuana) and luxury publications - including auction catalogues. The lavish nature of the present work seems to be a natural fit with hip-hop, which is often thought of as a self-referential art form obsessed with status, class and gilded accessories. This connection between luxury and hip-hop becomes even clearer when one considers the idea that, in the words of the artist, "Everybody wants to be the king of hip-hop" (M. Ryzik, "Blending Hip-Hop and Heraldry," New York Times, October 20, 2011). By Notorious BIG being the subject of the piece, Newsome equates the rapper's status with one that would traditionally be occupied by a king. Newsome further plays with this juxtaposition of old and new traditions with his customization of the ornate frame around the collage. With his use of meticulously applied metalic flake automobile lacquer, he alludes to pop culture via a practice many hip-hop artists engage in - embellishing their cars. By painting an already ornate frame with motifs such as fists and dollar signs, Newsome combines baroque-style ornamentation with that of hip-hop.