Monday, February 6, 2017

Rashaad Newsome

     Some of Rashaad Newsome's first artworks were based in collage about heraldry, its role and iconography.  He was influenced by hip-hop culture as well as baroque.  This is present in his collages.  As a visual tournament the patterns and designs in the collages as well as the frame compete for the attention of the viewer.  He also interested in idea to reference the body without being formally present, reintroducing the idea of Renaissance portraiture with our being physically present through use of architecture.  In his collages, Newsome uses modern depictions of wealth,
This idea is continued in his work tracking the movement of dancers using a program that then allows him to 3D print as a sculpture or to make prints.   Rashaad Newsome's most recent work, FIVE, is influenced by vogueing.  There is an aspect of improvisational dance.  Newsome uses a program designed for Kinect hand recognition to track the dancers.

     His interest in challenging the canonized art world is present in his recent video art and animations.  Newsome has created a new art medium.  McLuhan writes, "Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique ratios of sense perceptions.  The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act--the way we perceive the world." Newsroom alters the environment in which the viewer experiences art.  Newsome plays with sense perceptions.  While incorporating sound, texture, and movement.  Newsome creates digital alternate realities and new collaged worlds in his videos.  Combining collage, video art, improvisational performance, music, design, digital art, and fashion, Newsome has created a new art form that is entirely his own, while also drawing from his own identity and knowledge of art history.  Rashaad Newsome's work challenges the canonized art world which has been historically dominated and controlled by wealth, white supremacy, and the patriarchy.  Newsome's art is a new medium that calls to be viewed and consumed in a new way, directly challenging the high society art world.

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