Word on the Street: 3x Dope
From barbershops to the boulevard, brothers drop knowledge and build bridges. And from now until July 29, three artists will be expanding those convo's at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Street Level: Mark Bradford, William Cordova and Robin Rhode offers up a contemporary take on the inner-city griot. However, this city could be in any country with an assortment of cloned B-boys and thug wannabes populating street corners. Curated by Trevor Schoonmaker, Street Level brings together three heavyweight emerging artists to rep their respective 'hoods (the U.S.A., Africa, and Peru) and creative sensibilities (drawing, painting, performance, mixed media assemblage).
The power of this show, other than the hot-hot heat that the three bring to Durham, is the further proof of our hyper-connected world via popular culture and urbanization. Viewing the trunk-rattling speaker boxes, vinyl, graffiti, and found objects depicted/utilized in Bradford's, Cordova's, and Rhode's work, it's hard not to hear the sounds of the city; sounds of the past, present and future. Echoing the sentiments of Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock, Gary Simmons erasure drawings, and David Hammons' multi-medium body of work, Street Level resurrects and gives voice to the (in)tangible remnants from which the artists draw their inspiration.
As the show suggests, our culture is as common as the streets we prowl. From the four ends of the Earth, down on the corner, and out in the street there is a whisper of beauty and invisibility that resonates across borders. Planet Rock--on that other level.
13 April 2007