The one question at the forefront of America’s public mind right now seems to be: Does race still matter? We see it in the debate over Barack Obama’s presidential run, the media’s claim that there is one “Black Church” (a.k.a. Jeremiah Wright), and art exhibitions like Black Is Black Ain’t curated by Hamza Walker (The Renaissance Society, Univ of Chicago on view 4/20/08 – 6/8/08). Meanwhile, artists like Chanel Kennebrew are creeping on a come up, taking Booker T.’s bootstrap mentality, Dubois’ words on propaganda and Warhol’s use of reproduction to foster a new socio-economic art model: self-reliance, healthy interdependence and conscious capitalism. 

(Chanel Kennebrew, Narcissism from the Good Housekeeping series, mixed media, collage.)

Chanel Kennebrew’s movement from the art marketplace, the gallery and the corporate design firm, to independent artist/entrepreneur status has been a process. One laced with stints on the west coast, in the Midwest, abroad in Toronto and finally in Brooklyn, USA for the last 2 ½ years. Her journey has also included study at the Ontario College of Art & Design and the usual artist hustle – a million and one side jobs. After a historical look at stereotypes and binary oppositions through her series of 12 prints called Good Housekeeping for the New Negro Woman, completed at university, Chanel found herself revisiting the surface exploration of race and gender in media through her work at a NYC design firm. Soon, it became clear: 1) Chanel needed to make art for the people…not the scene; 2) the mainstream media doesn’t represent the actual populous, it represents the ‘ideal’ populous; and, 3) she was getting stifled trying to create for curators and buyers. Hence, her leap into entrepreneurship and strictly freelance work with the launch of her own on-line store, Junkprints.com.

(Chanel Kennebrew, Ladies of Soul, 13″x19″, archival matte print, edition of 50, also available as a tee.)

Chanel’s artwork and art-inspired products are in part designed to approach social matters from multiple perspectives. She told Cultureserve, “One thing I try to stress in the work is that discrimination based strictly on being unfamiliar is harmful to communities as a whole and the results can be absurd to just sad. The specific topics are just the tip. The core of the problem is lack of understanding. As simple as that sounds, that lack of understanding affects the victim and the oppressor and causes strange spin offs such as over compensation by power holders and self segregated communities built strictly on visual appearance. I rarely come to conclusions in my work. I’m just presenting my audience with some healthy options.” Along with her own line of junk (clothing, zines, prints, etc.), Chanel donates a percentage of profits from specialty tee’s (Jena 6 & Immigrant Beater) to support social causes and keeps it democratic by offering her art direction services to both large and small companies.

(Left to right: Monitor Mania Jacket, In Support of the Jena 6 Tee, by Junkprints. Below: Chanel Kennebrew.)

Chanel designs all Junkprints’ graphics and prints all garments on sweatshop free tees, hoodies and up-cycled materials in Brooklyn. All of the bags are hand made and the core of the line is made in editions of 50. Contact/Shop Chanel!

What constitutes a classic? Who gets to decide? Why not me? So, as a lover of the b-boy uprock danced to a classic b-boy cut, I declare Sanford Biggers’, Mandala of the B-Bodhisattva II video work, made in 2000, a classic.  What are the parameters for this particular classic, the supreme weaving of the spiritual nature of breakdancing (exquisitely explored in the current film Planet B-Boy), with the Mandala, a diagram that serves as a collection point for universal forces.  (Watch the video!)

(Sanford Biggers, Mandala of the B-Bodhisattva II (2000), video still, 16ftx 16ft hand-carved colored rubber tiles, Formica backing. Battle of the Boroughs breakdance competition.)

The sacred circle where the community gets down and individuals merge with divine oneness and the eternal moment, once again found itself in the dance ciphers of early hip-hop culture, and subsequently became a global phenomenon known as breakdancing. What Biggers so eloquently puts down here, in video form, is a contemporary cultural manifestation of a centuries old global tradition. Not only is this video work a sublimely layered riff on perspective and transculturalism, it highlights the symbiotic relationship between the individual, the group and the cosmos. While the volume is loud the message is clear, one love, one aim, one destiny – union with the ultimate - whether you’re a b-boy, b-girl, Buddhist or otherwise.

(Sanford Biggers, Creation/Dissipation (2002), colored sand poured unfixed to floor and realtime projection of the performance shot from an overhead camera and projected on an adjacent wall.)

As a group, there are a handful of Biggers’ video works that suggest a fascination with the dance between the cosmic or metaphysical and the day to day movements of human beings. Creation/Dissipation (2002), Hip Hop Ni Sasagu (In Fond Memory of Hip Hop) (2004) and Cosmic Conundrum (2006) all show an appreciation for what could be described as movement between the polarities of energy and matter. Spatial relationships between music and dance, silence and sound, the individual and the group, light and dark, the intimate and the infinite, converge into moments of contemplation filled with the residue of the familiar and the possibility of the unknown.

(Sanford Biggers, Lotus (2007), 7ft diameter, hand etched glass, steel and LEDs. The image etched onto the glass is based on drawings of the cargo hold of an 18th century slave vessel.)

Many of Biggers’ video pieces are accompanied by installations, objects and performances that also speak to his transcultural/transcosmic inquiries.  Keep an eye out for Biggers’ participation in the following shows in 2008:  US Biennial: Prospect 1. (curated by Dan Cameron) New Orleans, LA; Neo HooDoo: Art For A Forgotten Faith. (curated by Franklin Sirmans and traveling to PS1, New York) The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; and, (Yet Untitled). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York.  Also on tap in 2009, The Cartographer’s Conundrum (funded by Creative Capital), an installation, film and website inspired by artist, scholar and Afro-futurist John Biggers. A cousin of his subject, Sanford Biggers’s goal is to both study and expand the emerging genre of Afro-futurism, which engages science-fiction, cosmology and technology to create a new folklore of the African Diaspora.

(Sofia Maldonado, Skate Bowl, 2008. Photo: Alfred Ruiz. Location: Somewhere in Puerto Rico…)

Read Cultureserve’s Issue #4 feature on Sofia Maldonado, the artist behind Skate Bowl, here!

Sofia’s next show, The Tropical Storm, is a three-part project blending elements of street culture (skateboarding, punk rock and graffiti) with a feminine Latina aesthetic and the chaotic natural energy of the Caribbean.  The different elements of the project -The Bowl, Broken Boards and The Skate Bags – originate from the artist’s objective to open up dialogue on the renovation of neglected public spaces and how fashion and consumerism influence counterculture youth movements (particularly how these movements are integrated into products and industries).  A skate mini-ramp will be installed in the center of the gallery, designed and painted by the artist and will be available for local urban daredevils to attempt during the opening. On view at Magnan Emrich, NYC, 5/15/08 – 6/23/08. Contact Sofia!

Based in Los Angeles, The HeArt Project creatively links overlooked teenagers in alternative high schools with professional artists, cultural centers, and communities to imagine, produce and present new work. The organization believes that overlooked young people are extraordinarily creative, that artists are a significant civic resource, and that their ideas, collaborations and work benefit the entire culture. 

(Left to right: Man One, A student presents a portrait of Tejana singer Selena, at the Getty Center, created as a group project during a workshop series with Man One.)

Each year The HeArt Project hosts its annual evening of art benefit to raise funds and awareness for the organization’s comprehensive arts programs through an exhibition of student work, a silent auction and special presentations to honorees made by HeArt Project students. This year’s event, on May 15, 2008, will feature one special honoree, the beloved International Muralist, Graffiti Artist, HeArt Project Artist Instructor and local Los Angeles Art Activist, Man One. Some folks know him for his downtown LA graffiti outpost/store/art gallery, Crewest, and others, like the HeArt Project students, also know him for his stature as a muralist in their own communities and city. The Crewest gallery philosophy to “cater to art that speaks to the heart and soul as well as the mind,” is also clearly evident in Man One’s dedication to arts education via the HeArt Project.

(Man One and the students of Amelia Earhart High School on a field trip to the artist’s gallery and one of his murals.)

Since 1992, in partnership with institutions and professional artists, The HeArt Project has served as a pathway for its students to move from dropping out of high school to re-engaging in their education, lives, and futures. The HeArt Project operates at 24 sites on a conceptual “ladder” philosophy, offering students the opportunity to advance through four levels of increasingly advanced arts programs – workshops and public presentations, after-school residencies and leadership training, scholarships to art programs for high school students at local colleges, and alumni support. Support strategies at each level, help students “climb” the ladder while exploring opportunities in the arts, working toward high school graduation, and transitioning into post-secondary education.

For more information on the HeArt Project fundraiser location, sponsorship, tickets, and silent auction, visit www.theheartproject.org or contact Suzy Foster at (213) 744-1404 / suzy@theheartproject.org.