Hip-hop Fine Art usually contains a particular set of social codes that can be linked to Hip-hop's larger aesthetic which includes the use of Hip-hop language (vernacular, visual, embodied), addresses themes of polyculturalism, engages the dialectic between public and Private space and also engages in what Danny Hoch calls the "reappropriation by hip-hop creators of materials, technology and preserved culture"(2006). When you discuss Hip-hop Aesthetics and Fine Art this week, think about the culture of Hip-hop and the themes Hip-hop artists explore. How do fine artists in Hip-hop create bridges between private and public and notions of "street" and "fine" in their art? How is Hip-hop Arts inaccessibility to the urban working class a contradiction of the street art aesthetic?
In class, we discussed the various presentations of hip-hop in fine art in museums, and in “Between the Studio and the Street: Hip Hop in the Postmillennial Visual Arts,” the authors describe two contrasting presentations of hip-hop aesthetics: “the Brooklyn Museum’s presentation of Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhyme, and Rage was a nostalgic but curiously static look back at the rise of hip-hop, primarily in New York City. The Bronx Museum’s lively exhibition One Planet under a Groove: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art… highlighted hip-hop’s influence on contemporary art” (Chang 133). According to Yee and Simons, these visual artists “sought to ‘reframe the discourse of identity politics in a global era and to expand the art historical discourse’” (Chang 133). These presentations were contrasting in the time periods, yet they compliment each other in the full explanation of the history of hip-hop in fine art.
ReplyDeleteJust as Sanford Biggers sees hip-hop music as the “latest installment in a long tradition of African American vernacular culture,” hip-hop art can also be seen as one of the newer forms of African American art (Chang 137). The aesthetics of hip-hop and African American fine art are influenced by all aspects of hip-hop and African American culture, including the music, dress, language, and politics, and both music and fine art have evolved over time, giving rise to the hip-hop fine art we have today.
Tosin Morohunfola: To begin with, Fine art, by definition, is a rigged term. Art only becomes Fine Art when a jury of notable, PHD-holding peers deems it worthy and viable. In other words, art only becomes fine art when it’s commodified. (Hodges Persley, Lecture) The term only proves a certain kind of educationally-legitimized credibility, which is not really credibility at all, instead it is marketability. The artist/artwork may be no different than an acknowledged and commodified artist/artwork but is not making money and therefore is not Fine.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop Fine Artists exemplify many aspects of the Hip-hop Aesthetic. For example, Daniel Martinez’s museum buttons read “I can’t ever imagine wanting to be white.” (Chang 135). That mantra displays a pride in “Blackness” and “cool” that is typical of Hip-hop’s desire to avoid the mainstream and “squareness.” With Hip-hop’s emphasis on heavy-hitting electronic amplification and bass that makes your body boom, Nadine Robinson’s Rock Box is a rhinestone-embedded speaker that just screams Hip-hop aesthetic (Chang 136).
When Walter Ruttman made Symphony of a Great City about “how urban life ebbs and flows,” he even alludes to the Hip-hop “borrowing” aesthetic by saying “The camera presents slices of life like a DJ’s cut-and-paste sample mix: it cross-sections from the private lives of big-city people.” (Chang 154-156)
Fine artists in Hip-hop create bridges between private and public and notions of "street" and "fine" in their art by exercising, explaining, and educating people about their art. One example of this is the gallery One Planet Under a Groove show. There were sculptors, graffiti artists, and all other types of Hip Hop fine artists there and more. Not all fine art began as fine art. This is especially true for Hip-Hop fine art because graffiti didn't even hit the canvas until the 70's so of course it hadn't made it to the gallery yet (NHP). When graffiti became a more domestic form of art, that is when gallery's started to take notice (NHP). The best example of how Hip-hop Arts inaccessibility to the urban working class is a contradiction of the street art aesthetic is seen in the reading from this week. Nadine says that "because this is a fine art piece," is something she finds difficult explaining to people without sounding elitist (Yee et al., pp. 147). She was approached by a music video artist that had hopes of commandeering a piece of hers for a video. Though it is Hip-Hop fine art, it is still very much fine art and many don't understand that. But isn't one of the main characteristics of Hip-Hop sampling and sensory overload? Sure it is, and this is probably one of the reasons that the artist approached her. Hip-Hop to me, seems to embrace scribbling outside of the lines. Maybe it would be taboo for a "high art" masterpiece to be exploited through the medium of medium art, but this to me seems to be what Hip-Hop was founded on - commodified and generalized stereotypical instances of a historically taboo culture made popular and inducted into the mainstream by blacks.
ReplyDeleteOver time, the presence of hip-hop in art has transformed from being an “urban menace” in early graffiti art, to being present in pieces of fine art that sells for up to $400,000 (Lecture 11/2/09). In the 1970s, graffiti was the only form of art where hip-hop elements and themes were present. Today, many artists deemed as fine artists stated their careers as graffiti artists. Art is considered fine art when a group of peers deems the art piece acceptable to be labeled as “fine art”, or when the art is present in a gallery or art museum (Lecture 11/02/09). The idea was brought up in class that art only becomes fine art when it is commodified, or the artist gains profit or success from the art. In the roundtable article by Lydia Yee, all of the featured artists had some prior connection to hip-hop culture and lifestyle. Many of the participants said that their art may not fit perfectly into the category of “hip-hop art”, but that hip-hop had a place and a presence in their style and works. The participants also commented that by referencing hip-hop in their art, they hoped to attract the attention of the youth that was not usually attracted by art typically seen in galleries and museums (Chang). A contradiction associated with hip-hop and fine art is the idea that hip- hop fine art is created in order to express experiences the hip-hop culture faces, such as socioeconomic problems, but the group of people being expressed often cannot afford the art. Also, some artists who were originally loyal to the art of graffiti and staying true to the street now rely on the money and success they gained through selling their art. Many artists such as Basquiat and Banksy produce “street art” or art created on public spaces. Although Basquiat and Banksy create street art, their art is high valuable and labeled as some of the best art produced today (Blackboard pictures).
ReplyDeleteArt in hip-hop has progressed from an alternative form of expression to a fine art that can sell for $50,000 and more. In “Between the Studio and the Street: Hip-Hop in Postmillenial Visual Arts,” a roundtable of hip-hop fine artists, all of the artists were introduced to art through street art like graffiti and hip-hop symbols like the boombox. However, today hip-hop fine art is a well sought after genre of art. Artists are continually creating bridges between private and public and notions of “street” and “fine” in their art (Chang 137).
ReplyDeleteGraffiti artist, Banksy, is a prime example of this bridge. He creates a bridge between private and public by keeping his identity a mystery but displaying his art in high trafficked public places all over the world from New York to China. His art is considered “street” because it’s featured on public spaces but also “fine” because his pieces have been sold for thousands of dollars.
The inaccessibility of hip-hip fine art to the urban working class is an obvious contradiction of the roots of this popular genre of art. The urban working class inspires the art but could never afford to purchase it. Artist Nadine Nelson states “I am working class and feel acutely aware of it in the museum or the art world,” yet her massive, rhinestone covered speakerboxes are contrary to the street art aesthetic (Chang 137).
Many critics view the idea of Hip-hop art as “fine” art. It is disrupting to see the what was once “street” art, displayed on the sides of buildings and structures, now hanging in galleries. Street art has this concept about it that speaks to the people as a movement, and is accessible to anyone passing by. Once this art becomes unattainable by the masses and taken from the street to the gallery, it becomes fine art; something reserved for the exclusive and elite. This is a direct contradiction with the original movement that inspired the art. What was once serving as a voice for the poor, urban culture has now become commodified into something out of reach to those that reflect and resonate with it best. Now Hip-hop artists who want their art to be considered “fine” are not representing the themes that inspired the genre. They are reacting to what private parties want to see on canvas, hanging on a wall. Hip-hop Fine Artists are creating pieces that are no longer in touch with an audience that set the foundation for their being.
ReplyDeleteIn lecture, we defined hip-hop aesthetics as anthing that symbolizes hip-hop. For example, the call/response, sociopolitical context, illusion, lack of safety, battling, African Diaspora, etc. We also defined fine art as all various types of art including painting, sculpture, dancing, but we noted that it is not considered fine art until it is featured in a museum. This idea of not being fine art until it is recognized is ironic because those who have access to these pieces of fine art are part of the elite upper class, which excludes the African working class, those who the art pices are about. I think this is interesting. In "Between the Studio and the Streets" Sanford Biggers says that his art was his way of "communicating with and educating his friends" (138) and this is what a lot of artists use street art for. Street art (murals, stencil art, sticker art, etc.) are all ways that we as a society can learn from and about the hip-hop generation. We can learn about the artist's struggles, hardships, and celebrations just like we learn about these things from an artist's music.
ReplyDeleteThe article “Between the Studi and the Street” comments that the bigger issues are being ignored by “messages that are being masked in all this shiny and intricate detail” (Chang 145). Nadine thinks that art is “based too much in popular culture”. These statements can be connected to Luis’ comment about the art that is being seen by museums is being strongly controlled (Chang 145). Both Nadine and Luis are expressing their feelings about how hip-hop has begun to have its influence in art, but the popular suburban culture still has a strong hold on what art is exposed to society. Nadine’s comment focuses more on the message that art has, and how the major issues seems to be lost. In class, we saw a photo of a young boy with the gold chains, a gun, and then a teddy bear. This photo stuck out to me because it is a symbol of how a lot of today’s youth think they are older than they really are, and they quickly lose the youth they have this way. The message in this photo is an example of how art can still have a message, but I can see where Nadine thinks that the bigger message is lost with art in popular culture. It is common for people to just do something that will sell when dealing with the “popular” segment rather than focus on trying to further express the important message to the right people. As stated in class, hip-hop art is not always accessible to everyone. Sometimes the message is not necessarily what people want to hear, so one must choose to produce something that people want or to focus more on the message that needs to be understood to the right group.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop in fine art is just a form of the music and culture through a new media. That is, the same that can be said about the hip-hop culture being illustrated through the MCs and DJs can be “heard” through the brush strokes, installations and other artistic mediums of hip-hops fine artists. Like the music, hip-hop aesthetics are portrayed in codes and similes that represent the culture being “painted” by the artists. Continually, as represented in Lydia Yee’s roundtable article, “Between the Studio and the Streets,” she makes it a point to describe the artists origins; “Sanford Biggers makes sculptures and installations that draw from a diverse range of sources, including Eastern religions…Luis Gispert was born in New Jersey and raised in Miami…Jackie Salloum is a Palestinian/Syrian American” (Chang 134). Yee reports these racial and ethical differences to show that fine art in Hip-hop is polycutlural; you cannot separate one race or ethnicity from the art created to depict the hip-hop lifestyle. Hip-hop’s aesthetics and fine art are “the most diverse” range of art the fine art world has ever seen, while at the same time, it represents one giant mix of a polycultural society.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about the topic of hip-hop art, my mind is automatically drawn to several Outkast albums I bought in the 90’s, two of which still hang on the walls of my room today. These albums featured the afro-centric inspired artwork of Andre 3000. The featured many bright hip colors such as orange, yellow and green, as well of mostly naked women, usually with their hair large in an afro. This art very much reminds me of the eye-catching colorful, and expensive hip-hop artwork we viewed in the books passed around during class. Not only did this demonstrate artwork coming directly from the music, and a musician, but also addressed the issues involving an appropriate medium to display this art to the public. As I did with my CD’s and booklets simply buying the CD would buy some access to the art, as although the hip-hop audience generally will not be able to afford a $50,000 work of art, many of them have been spending $12.99 on CD’s for years. Outkast also takes advantage of the more financially secure fans, offering an order form where people can purchase more expensive prints of the artwork they see on the CD or booklet, allowing them to capitalize their revenue by appealing to multiple audiences simultaneously. The diversity of audience gained by this means of distribution of the art very much reflects the polyculturalism of hip-hop, as it can be consumed across socio-economic divides. Artists such as Andre 3000 very much embody the hip-hop idea of pushing the limits of accepted self expression both through music, and visually through Artwork.
ReplyDeleteFor starters, fine art can be defined, as we perceive it to be. The art within the fine tuned nature of it becomes it’s own justified word as educated people make it credible to their outsiders. As Hodges discussed in our lecture, fine art becomes art when it is commodified. After reading Chang’s conception of blackness and what is typical within the Hip-hop world it become clear that Hip-hop is what you perceive it to be, it claims it to be a “cross-section” in claims towards the different types of people that represent what is expected within the Hip-hop world. When Hip-hip’s accessories are brought to the street, it tends to be carried on from various generations, deriving from the people who coined the terms that apply. Various concepts within the Hip-hop world, like aesthetic, within fine art, become more and more conceptualized as they lead themselves towards the streets. This happens because of the levels of diversity that are portrayed within the streets of Hip-hop. However, along with these assumptions, there tends to be contradictions that go along with the fine art within Hip-hop. Some people believe that Hip-hop is solely created as a sign of self -expression. Though people tend to argue over this factor, it appears that this does play a huge part in the blackness that goes along with the Hip-hop world.
ReplyDeleteHip-Hop art has changed drastically since its inception in the 1970's. It (hip-hop art) used to be frowned upon because of its main use as graffiti, but now it has evolved to an extremely profitable art. Kehind Wiley and Banksy, hip-hop influenced artists, have sold paintings ranging from $50,000 to $400,000, putting their work in extreme high demand
ReplyDelete(lecture 11/2). It's also not as if these are "untrained artists" Luis from the article "Between the Studio and The Street" he states "I went to art school, and I don't think about where it ends up, but it ends up in the art context where it's received and accepted, I guess, and circulated and hasn't really crossed over to hip-hop" (Chang 147). That quote shows how he was a fine artist, but how his work was hip-hop influenced and that it was still accepted in the fine-art world showing the progress of hip-hop inspired art. The quote from the Chang article that really stood out to me was from Sanford, when he states "Instead of fighting, people were battling and deciding it on the floor, deciding it on the wall, deciding it on the mic, or deciding it on the tables" (Chang 146). That quote talks about the cultural movement and the effect that hip-hop had, especially in Los Angeles where Sanford is from amongst other places. Hip-Hop art is another way of expressing yourself without violence and is a way of representing the hip-hop culture as a whole through its different interpretations of art.
The street art aesthetic gained its popularity due to its accessibility and spontaneity. It is not work that is commissioned by an individual but rather it is art that emanates from an entire society. The street artist speaks freely on behalf of his neighborhood and his lifestyle because he has no accountability to a supervisional entity. Once the artist crosses into the world of 'fine arts', there can be a shift in the motivation for artwork. Suddenly, an artist's work is less dangerous but more compensating. Often times the living environment of an artust can be changed and the themes an artist works on shift to accomodate this new environment.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, the accessibility to this artwork is determined by the individual. My definition of accessibility is the ability to view and experience the art, not own it. Many museums are free to the public and therefore their ability to view street-art-turned-fine-art is not hindered by the artist's decision to get paid for his hard work. An artist should not have to compromise his opportunity to obtain a better quality of life for himself in order to appease to the outward pressure of any group.
Hip-Hop art was moved from being referred to as a “street” art form to a now being a known as a “fine” art form. Many museums now-a-days feature these hip-hop artists paintings. Some of the museums that feature this hip hop art are: The Bronx Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, The Smithsonian Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art located in Detroit (Hodges Persley Lecture). The average price as told to us in a lecture of artists that is represented by a gallery or agent sells their painting for an average of $1000. However the highest paid artists that are represented in some of the most famous museums such as Kehinde Wiley, sell their art for anywhere from $50,000 to $400,000. Although most of this art began on the streets of Brooklyn, NY, which is the center of the current “street” art movement that is directly connected to hip hop. Graffiti can be described to as street art, but there are other such as: murals, stencil art, sticker art, installations, wheat pasting, video projection, and sculpture. All of which are represented as hip hop art in museums and are sold for big bucks like I discussed earlier.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop as a fine art has been shifted over time; from “painting urban space, to canvas in the late 1970’s” (Lecture 11/2/09). It was once considered an “urban menace”, but is looked at by scholars and others as fine works of art. It transformed from the streets, starting with graffiti art, to landing a seat in various museums such as the Bronx Museum’s: One Planet under a Groove exhibit. This transformation has given Hip-hop fine artists hope, and many have become successful because of this. There are many artists that are represented by an agent or gallery that receive $1,000. Artists such as Kehinde Wiley and Banks, earn anywhere between $50,000-$400,000 on each of their works of art. These artists started off creating street art, which can be defined as art that is created in public spaces (Lecture 11/2/09). Sanford Biggers, a Los Angeles native that creates sculptures states that, “Graffiti is how I started getting into the kind of artwork I do now…I looked at hip-hop as not just the music itself but the latest installment in a long tradition of African American vernacular culture” (Chang 137). These fine artists challenged public and private space, just as graffiti does. It gives them a sense of competition, creativeness, and voice that help bring forth an audience of attractions. Hip-hop fine art has sought the attention of art fans, buyers and scholars around the world, which is furthermore making hip-hop a commodity.
ReplyDeleteArt in hip-hop has slowly made its way from graffiti and “street art” to art seen in major galleries and fine museums (Hodges Persley Lecture). Exhibits have been featured at major museums such as the Bronx Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Smithsonian Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detriot (Hodges Persley Lecture). Hip-hop art being featured in such prestigious art museums shows how far hip-hop art has come from the streets to the appreciation of fine art enthusiasts. Not only does hip-hop art attract these fine art personnel, but it also attracts the attention of the hip-hop youth in a way that fine art forms rarely do (Chang). Many hip-hop artists capitalize on the fact that their art relates to the racial, ethnic, gender, and class issues that are ever-present in hip-hop communities (Hodges Persley Lecture). Although this may be true, artists such as Banksy and Wiley are selling paintings from $50,000 to $400,000 which makes their art highly unreachable to the urban populations that it relates to (Hodges Persley Lecture). Hip-hop art can be congratulated for its acceptance as “fine art” and the artists that have used their art to express the hardships of the urban youth.
ReplyDeleteFine art, by definition, is “art intended for beauty rather than utility” (American Heritage Dictionary). It is judged by the academia and valued both culturally and monetarily. On the other hand, the Hip-hop aesthetic (anything symbolizing Hip-hop; lecture, 11/2) has not always been seen as fine art because of its beginnings in urban areas; rather, it was seen as “street art.”
ReplyDeleteHowever, as Sanford Biggers notes in “Between the Studio and the Street”, many museums are now recognizing the Hip-hop aesthetic as a more legitimate (that is, fine art) form of art. This is due in part because of the youth culture and its attraction to this type of art. By “legitimizing” the Hip-hop aesthetic, museum workers are able to usher in a new demographic that is not typically seen in the fine art crowd (p. 145). Nadine Robinson notes, on the other hand, that since the “legitimization” of the Hip-hop aesthetic, some of the art has become too based in popular culture and has lost the simplicity and the roots of Hip-hop (p. 145).
There are other mediums used to express the Hip-hop aesthetic like film or dance. As the youth culture grows to accept this aesthetic more, its status as fine art is achieved. With the growing acceptance, in time it could be assumed that the Hip-hop aesthetic may be synonymous with fine art.
As discussed in lecture, fine art becomes mainstream art when it is commodified. Hip Hop’s art form is present in various kinds. It is hard to pinpoint prominent Hip Hop artists in the fine art genre because of the underground nature of this kind. For instance, a mainstream version of Hip Hop art is something we have discussed before, graffiti. Street art is a version of art that is available to everyone. However, some graf artists gain fame and are even paid for their works. Professor Hodges Persley showed us a book about her favorite artist, Banksy. He is a prime example of a Hip Hop, graf artist taking the next step into becoming a mainstream artist. His form is unique, and represents Hip Hop in the sense that it is graffiti and uses vernacular, expressive language through the works. Banksy also has a political message, as his work strives to prove a point about culture and society. In the article by Yee and Simons, the point is brought up that Hip Hop artists “sought to ‘reframe the discourse of identity politics in a global era and to expand the art historical dicourse’” (133). Clearly, Hip Hop art is a style that brings the aesthetics of the Hip Hop genre and presents it in a way that is moving and creative in its message.
ReplyDeleteHip hop and the artistic aesthetics that go with it have graduated from street art to fine art. In a way, hip-hop art has become a commodity, which has helped it reach the status of fine art. Graffiti has moved past its status as an “urban menace” (lecture). An impressive bit about these artists is that they are auto-didactic, self-trained. The art created involves murals, stencils, stickers, projections, oil and acrylic to convey messages of self-expressions, cultural issues, and political insignia. After viewing the images on Blackboard, I really can appreciate the work of Shepard Fairey and Iona Rozeal Brown. Their art consists mainly of portraits. Fairey’s work is mostly political. He does portraits of many political figures, but also of others conveying political messages. Brown’s work, like explained in class represents Japanese culture in a new light. She takes Japanese portraits and adds ideals of blackness and culture from the hip-hop community. Each hip hop artist has their aesthetics that they show through their work. This work can be observed now in national museums and are enjoyed by a wide variety of audience. The commodification of hip-hop art has helped it become what it is today, fine art.
ReplyDeleteIn hip-hop, fine art was developed as graffiti artists shifted from painting urban space to canvas in the late 1970s. As a result of this, many gallery owners and museum curators began to take notice. (Lecture 11/2) What was once considered as a form of vandalism is now a 'lifestyle' for some artists because they are making thousands of dollars for pieces of art they had in galleries. Artists such as Kehinde Wiley and Banksy sold paintings ranging from $50,000 to $400,000 which makes their artwork at the top of the art world hierarchy (lecture 11/2) However, graffiti isn't the only way artists are creating their masterpieces. These include murals, stencil art, sticker art, wheat pasting, installations, video projection, oil/acrylic portraiture, and sculptures (Lecture 11/2). Luis Gispert says that his mediums include, film, sculpture, and photo. His artwork is used to connect hip-hop and other things in the world (140). In a way, his artwork may be multicultural because he separates the hip-hop culture and ethnic cultures, but they become polycultural when he blends them together. According to Danny Hoch, a hip-hop theater artist, hip-hop aesthetics may include but not limited to: the codification of language, dress, gesture, and images, call and response, metaphor and simile, illusion, and polyculturalism (Lecture 11/2).
ReplyDeleteIn class, we defined hip-hop aesthetics as anything that symbolizes hip-hop. We also defined fine art as all various types of art including painting, sculpture, dancing, as we discussed in lecture fine art becomes art when it is commodified. This is what I don’t understand. Why does a piece of Art have to be in a museum to be considered “fine art”? Fine artists in Hip-hop create bridges between private and public and notions of "street" and "fine" in their art by distributing mainstream hip-hop on itunes and creating cd’s and making music videos out of their “fine art”. I would consider the “street” art underground hip-hop. Songs that leek online by artist who just spent some time in the studio flowing and never planned on releasing them by means of cds or itunes is what I consider street art and what bridges the gap between private and public hip-hop art.
ReplyDeleteThe capitalization of fine art parallels that of hip-hop due to the fact taht it becomes "authentic" when it is commodified (Hodges persley lecture). For example, the media and corporations soon discovered that the growing genre of hip-hop was indeed marketable, and they soon aided in expanding the audience from neglected communities to suburban areas. The same can be said about graffiti/fine art. It was shifted from being a "public menace" to mainstream. A selected group of high class individuals are able to assign value to a specific piece of art giving it authenticity and worth, making the line between valuable art and "street art" socially constructed. Nadine Robinson argues that artists are becoming too absorbed in becoming mainstream and famous that the Hip-hop aestetic and primal roots of creating art becomes lost in popular culture. The irony is that the main audiences the artists are trying to reach out to either lakc the funds to purchase these works, or they lack the access.
ReplyDeleteThe tension that exists between Hip Hop and Fine Art is largely the same tension exemplified by the commercialization of hip-hop culture: how do massive financial rewards change the authenticity of hip-hop? For many hip hop fine artists, the battle is to maintain the interest of 'street culture' while still moving in the socially privileged circles traditionally inhabited by fine art enthusiasts. All of the panelists in the discussion on Hip Hop and fine art enumerate the personal aims of their work, but all include some aspect of their art that is accessible to both the fine art crowd as well as the enthusiasts of solely hip hop. Similarly, none of the artists themselves see the institutions of fine art (museums, galleries, etc.) as resistant to anything contained in their artistic messages; indeed they cite many such galleries as receptive to their new, younger styles of art.
ReplyDeleteIn Paul Miller's article, he discusses many of the sampling and cross-media aspects of hip hop art. His is a quest to fuse all of the disparate influences on art into one entity, an experiential art that gracefully accommodates both Walt Whitman and Biggie Smalls. The focus of his essay (itself an exhibition of sampling and remixing) revolves around how to translate poetry into images, and how words function as art. This is central to any DJ: how to re-combine words to represent anything in the human experience, and Miller's essay discusses how hip hop's focus on eclecticism makes it the perfect vehicle for fine art.
Hip-hop and Fine Art
ReplyDelete“One of the tings I started to do with my work is not so much try to mimic or make hip-hop but in a way reference, not illustrate, it but make something new that connects to hip-hop and other things in the world. ”Luis Gispert quoted this in Chang’s, “ Between the Studio and The Streets: Hip-hop in the Postmillennial Visual Arts”. This quote really stuck out to me because that’s how I look at art. The sound of his work also reminds me how Banksy treats his artwork. It seems like they all have a hidden metaphor but with artistic traits of hip-hop. Just has discussed in Luis’s artwork, one of his pieces, “did a series of images of fictional cheerleaders that were all non-American cheerleads – Asian, Hispanic, Black, Indian girls”. As hip-hop rappers/DJs have and issue to discuss through their lyrics it seems that hip-hop fine artists have something to discuss as well. I believe art that has meaning is more fine art that art that is of a fruit basket. They’re many informational YouTube videos about Banksy online. My favorite metaphor used was he painted a huge elephant the same as a room’s wallpaper and discussed as “big world issues like poverty that we fail to notice”. The elements of hip-hop all have a similar theme in common. They want to express ideas or emotions. It’s almost like each painting or graffiti has a hidden meaning. The themes they are explored are common cultural issues, like racisms, dirty cops (Bansky), unity, and others of that sort. In my opionin there is no such thing as fine art. Anyone can through something on a canvas and call it fine art. Take graffiti of the wall and it is fine art. I believe real fine art is having a meaning, an idea, a purpose, or popularity. . Popularity is what gives any type of medium the “fine art” title. I feel like people like to associate more “fine art” with the price, higher the price the more it is considered “fine art”. Art should not be giving a title, only your personal opinion. That is why a respect Banksy even more, he wants people to relate to the art and not judge it by its cover ( aka the artist).
Hip Hop inspired art has moved from strictly “street art” (Hodges Presley) to fine arts museums such as the Bronx and Smithsonian Museum (Hodges Presley Lecture). In the article “Between the Studio and the Street: Hip-Hop in the Postmillennial Visual Arts” Sanford Biggers stated “[g]raffiti is how I started getting into the kind of artwork I do now…I looked at hip-hop as not just the music itself but the latest installment in a long tradition of African American vernacular culture” (Chang 137). Hip Hop aesthetics may be embodied and put to use in several different creative ways, including fine art. Nadine Robinson redefined her study of fine arts by embodying the world of hip-hop she grew up from living in the Bronx. Robinson stated, “I wanted to do work that didn’t say ‘I’m a Black woman,’ but [I] still [wanted] to be proud of where I was coming from” (Chang 136). Robinson created hip-hop inspired fine artwork through her embodied experiences watching her cousins create sound systems, which led to her famous “Rock Box” artwork. No matter who declares artwork as fine art or street art, the culture hip-hop has created is endless in creation. The aesthetics within hip-hop cannot be ignored and have inspired a new wave of fine artwork seen today.
ReplyDeleteThe Hip Hop community is taking their own version of fine art and molding it into something that all cultures can appreciate. The beautiful murals deemed graffiti by many outsiders of the hip hop community years ago, are now being recognized for the beautiful artistic works that have allowed grafitti artists to take their work indoors and transfer these beautiful images to canvas or more traditional mediums in the non-hip hop community. Fine art is a strange term that has an arrogance to it as was discussed in class, but the hip hop community has slowly broke through this stereotype to show that not only rich white folk can produce masterpieces of such exquisite quality. Many famous actors and rappers are buying hip hop art and mainstreaming this one culturally unacceptable artform.
ReplyDeleteHip hop and the art tat surround it has moved from a form of street art such as graffiti to fine art tat is showcased in museums and put on display in exhibits. The introduction of "Between the Studio and the Street" talks about two recent art exhibits showcasing hip-hop in prevalent New York museum's, the Brooklyn Museum and the Bronx museum. The exhibits were called Hip- Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes and Rage and Our Planet Under a Groove. Which documents hip- hop arts movement into the realm of fine art. Sanford Biggers says, "Graffiti is how I started getting into the artwork I do now". So one of the four elements of hip op started him on a path to fine art. When reading through "Between the Studio and the Street" one gets the feeling that these fine artists loved hip hop as a music and art form and wanted to capture those elements in their artwork. Luis Gispert says, "One of the things I've started doing with my work is not so much try to mimic or make hip-hop but in a way reference, not illustrate, but make something new that connects to hip hop and other things in the world". Hip-hop in fine art is taking on issues within the genre and society and making it accessible and relatable. Its emergence into the fine art world has been into museums where it was all started in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Luis Gispert also says, "sub cultures that were very important to certain curators in their teenage years such as heavy metal, death metal, goth, and rock and roll-that whole subculture, white subculture is being championed right now". Hip hop's subculture will continue to become fine art and mainstream as the people in this generation who appreciate hip-hop begin to hold positions where they can legitimize and showcase its fine work of art.
ReplyDeleteAs discussed in the lecture on Monday and the reading “Between the Studio and the Street” the popularity of hip-hop fine art is rising in the art world just as hip-hop is in academia. Hip-hop art displays have started popping up in many well-known museums such as The Bronx Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, The Smithsonian Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Hodges Persley Lecture). What is fueling the fire of Hip-hop art is the Street Art movement that started in Brooklyn. Types of Street Art include murals, stencil art, sticker art, installations, wheatpasting, video projection, oil/acrylic portraiture, and sculpture. Hip-hop art stems from different regions just like hip-hop music does as in the reading “Between the Studio and the Street” all the artists in the circle discussion grew up in different parts of the U.S. Many artist could also be considered griots, many artists tell stories with their pictures and are normally influenced by what is going on in their community and region.
ReplyDeleteHIP-HOP AND FINE ART
ReplyDeleteThe phrase 'fine art' is an extremely ambiguous one. Who can judge if something is 'fine art'? Usually the judges of these examples of art are highly educated people who are for some reason given the right to tell the difference between fine art and something else.This decision leads to the commodification of the piece that is in question (Hodges Persley Lecture). Hip-hop was never considered anything but a form of street culture for a long time, there is a bit of controversy when the elements of hip-hop are put into the mainstream and it's hard to decide weather these things are 'fine art'. This exist with rap and MCing, is it real music? Breaking or physical graffiti is it real dance? But this issue can be seen very commonly with graffiti, is it real art? Can you put the Mona Lisa and a mural in Brooklyn in the same category? Instead of looking at different examples of hip-hop art the article "Between the Studio and the Streets" see's these pieces as art from a "long tradition of African American vernacular culture". This might be a much easier way of looking at hip-hop art that gives it more credit than just being street vandalism on a wall.Truth be told there are many examples of hip-hop artwork in credited art museums and studios, although there will always be skeptics, it is clear (at least to me) that hip-hop art work fits the criteria for 'fine art' just as well as any other proclaimed artist's work.
Fine Art is not something that the average individual usually thinks of when they hear Hip-hop. However, the production of Hip-hop based Fine Art is becoming very popular and even more profitable. The following are just some of the artist that are using Hip-hop as there idea base: Lady in Pink, Biggers, Wiley, and Farley. Graffiti has always been associated with Hip-hop, but was always considered street art. But now people are beginning to see how fascinating and artistic graffiti really is. There are many different types of Hip-hop Fine Art like: Murals, Stencil, Sticker, Sculpture and Installations. This is a very wide variety of art and Hip-hop art is only on the rise.
ReplyDeleteThere is polyculturalism all throughout fine art. For instance, in the reading, “Between the Studio and the Street”, Jackie, a Palestinian and Syrian American artist and filmmaker who focuses on the Arab identity ( Chang pg 134). She was introduced to hip hop through a song and although her focus was on Arab culture, she thought that incorporating hip hop into her work would be a great way to convey her ideas. “In three minutes they encapsulated so much,” (Chang pg 142). This is significant because, it shows that any culture can cross over to any other culture. Since then, the hip hop scene in Palestine has blossomed. (Chang 134).
ReplyDeleteI think it’s amazing some hip hop artists turn to fine art. I would think that the transformation would be a bit of a struggle. For instance, in “Between the Studio and the Street”, Nadine expresses how she wasn’t always accepted. “I wanted to do work that didn’t say ‘I’m Black’ but still be proud of where I was coming from.” This struggle to find her place in the world of fine art is similar to the struggle of a female MC in the world of rapping. The MC wanted to be just like the guys and not perform like a “woman” but still be proud of being a woman.
Hip hop inspired fine art was controversial. “Museums started to retrench because of this external criticism, and artists were also concerned about being labeled as a Black artist, as a woman artist, as an artist who deals with AIDS, etc” (Chang 135). Viewers started judging the artists rather than the art. It was also a struggle for hip hop inspired artists because only certain demographics were receiving the art as legit or worth going to go see. But this is was also a good thing because this art usually attracted youth to art galleries. This is similar to the art of a graffiti artist. Their art wasn’t always looked at as legit “art”.
The bridge created between hip-hop’s definition of ‘street art’ to fine art is interesting because without the connotation of hip-hop inspired art being attached to rap music, hip-hop fine art would simply be another type of artistic expression as viewed by the art world. It is interesting to look at the motivation behind these two different types of art because in street art, it is done in such a way that everyone who walks by it in the general public can see it and appreciate it even if they don’t get it or don’t understand it, when in traditional fine art, many pieces are collected by wealthy individuals and kept so that only a select group can see. Going along with Banksy’s notion that pieces of traditional fine art are like ‘trophies in a rich man’s trophy case,’ I consider art inspired by hip-hop, or ‘street art,’ to be a much more pure version of the word simply because it is a way of creative expression designed to be seen by the public rather than seen and bought by a certain elitist type of crowd. Yet, in its evolution, graffiti and stencil art pieces done by famous artists are becoming inaccessible to the working class urbanite that inspired the work in the first place. I think this is yet another example of absurd commodification of hip-hop inspired expression and it is contradictory in its very nature in that the people that have inspired and become a part of the hip-hop scene can’t afford to own a piece that reflects the way they lived and had been brought up.
ReplyDeleteHip hop is constantly evolving and cannot be described in just one word. People say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is especially true with fine art and hip hop. The transition from street art to actually displaying works in museums shows the progression of hip hop and how it reaches a much broader audience. I think Kanye West “Heartless” video captured the true beauty of art and how it plays into hip hop. The video was creative and embraced his lyrics. Another video I feel really embraces hip hop through art is “No Handlebars” by the Flobots. The song is already powerful through there intense lyrics and jazzy saxophone in the background, but the artwork for the video made the song more intense because of the creativeness. Out of all the art work displayed on blackboard I think JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT was the most outspoken. His artwork included not pictures but also words to describe how they felt, and people can relate. Art has no boundaries just like hip hop, and to display both aspects as art and beauty instead of a nuisance shows how far hip hop has came and how more people are appreciating it.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop as a whole is a form of art. Some of it can be considered Fine Art and some of it… not so much. This is the way with all art; it is subject to the beholder. Graffiti is one element of hip-hop that is a true art form that bridges the gap between “street” and “art”, however it wasn’t always so. Graffiti type art wasn’t even put on a canvas until many years after it was became prominent on the sides of walls and buildings in many inner cities. There is a cartoon TV show called The Boondocks, episode: Riley Wuz Here, where Riley tags suburban houses in his neighborhood houses using the typical graffiti style of block lettering. Young Riley is caught tagging homes one morning and as punishment instructed to take a class on art taught by Bob Ross, the famous painter. After completing this class, Riley decides to paint his masterpiece on the side of the home of his grandfather. The next morning, their neighborhood awakens to see a wonderful painting of his grandfather and hi slate wife depicted in a beautiful fashion that everyone present enjoys. After watching this TV show I wonder what the producer of the show was attempting to depict in this episode; that graffiti can be beautiful or that before the graffiti was accepted, the author had to learn how to draw and paint “real art”. I’m sure Aaron McGruder the producer of the show wanted to show how beautiful graffiti can be as the fine art form it is.
ReplyDeleteHip-hop fine art is a contemporary style of art that has become a valuable asset to galleries while maintaining its overall authenticity of being ‘street.’ Unfortunately for working class people, many Hip-hop art pieces have gained significant value, therefore becoming a commodity that holds its market mainly to the rich upper class that are able to afford such pieces (Hodges Persley Lecture). This has created a bridged gap for artists like Banksy who create their work in public spaces but sell it for thousands of dollars to someone who may not be able to convey the meaning of the art piece (Blackboard Art Pieces).
ReplyDeleteFine art can be anything that is displayed in an art museum. This can include paintings, drawings, sculptures, and many other forms of creativity. We learned in lecture Monday that a hip hop aesthetic includes many elements and themes that are found in hip hop culture, like codification of language, dress, and images, call & response, sociopolitical context, the battle, and lack of resources to name a few (Hodges-Persley lecture). Examples of these were also discussed in class, like Shepard Fairey’s depictions of President Obama (sociopolitical) and Nikki S. Lee’s work. Lee’s photographs use codification of dress and gestures to make her (a Korean woman) fit into the hip hop stereotypes she chooses to embody. One of the central themes in hip hop art is its identity as “street art,” meaning it was created in public space (lecture 11-2). Two techniques commonly used to create street art are murals and stencils, like what the artist Banksy does. Banksy uses stencils to create art that questions authority and mocks society and pop culture. His work has been printed in many books, and has largely transitioned into fine art.
ReplyDeleteAs of recently more and more Hip-Hop artists creations that used to be frowned upon and classified as graffiti on the streets has made its way to being considered fine art. These artists art work are ending up in art museums like The Studio Museum in Harlem. When these Hip-Hop artists first started making their art it was originally graffiti which was frowned upon and not considered art. These Hip-Hop artists can tell important stories to the viewers with their creations because they are telling the stories through their eyes and how they see it. As Nadine Robinson said, “I don’t want to say one type of art is better than the other, but I think the problem with art that’s based too much in popular culture is that it gets too dense, and then the simplicity of what needs to be said gets lost” (Chang 145). To me she is saying that people are not worried enough about what’s going in their neighborhood. And what’s going on in ones neighborhood is what Hip-Hop artists have been and always will be creating their work around.
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