HipHop Hooray
The Intersection Between Paint and Music
In my exhibition B + W & Gold in 1992, (see my July 29th post/Thin Sliced Theory for more about the exhibition) I mined the culture of the early 90’s——HipHop was at the centre. One of the paintings (below) featured Naughty by Nature and was titled O.P.P. for their August of 1991 hit song. The double entendre’s of the song was a perfect fit for the multiple readings of the paintings.
After the exhibition I created personal pieces that I sent out to magazine art director’s and work started to be commissioned from The Source, Vibe, Blaze, Spin and RollingStone.
I was commissioned mostly for portraits as the combination of the graphic oil paint and the colour graphics worked well with the page design of 1990’s magazines. I could also provide unique characters as seen in this piece for The Source for an article, ‘Cop Stop Survival Guide’.
HipHop also fuelled how I worked as I listened to Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill…
I want to post about ‘Flow’ at some point, because when I was working on the HipHop/Rap portrait commissions of the 90’s I was in a constant state of flow, that I have been able to draw upon as I moved away from oil paint.
In 2002 I was commissioned by the LATimes to do a portrait of Eminem for a review of the film 8 Mile. I was raised in Windsor Ontario, a short bridge away from Detroit, and I loved every minute of that film. Universal Pictures saw the LATimes image and purchased the rights to use it as a promo for the international release of the film.
Music is such an incredible Time Machine. It can transport you to a place and time and for me HipHop pulses in the images that fueled my career and changed the trajectory of my life. So, let’s all raise a glass to the powerful energy of 50 years of HipHop!
