Bracketed by textured walls that in many ways resemble Keba Konte's work, a collection of faded, tattered and dyed ironing boards, car seats, and found luggage are assembled to resemble the outline of a boat. The piece, titled "Noah's ark: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans," is the latest attempt by photographer/mixed media artist/waffle maker Keba Konte to keep the memory and reality of post Katrina New Orleans alive in the minds of all who witness his work. It would seem that the materials were pulled from some ninth ward home, still massacred and broken from nature and governmental ineptitude. In actuality, these materials are part of Konte's artistic praxis; collecting materials is part of his DNA.
"The thing is these [ironing boards, chairs, suitcases, etc.] have been sitting in my basement really, unused and it wasn't until I took the trip to new Orleans, post Katrina, I was there, part of a documentary crew… and we did a lot of interviews, a lot of first time testimonies, survival stories mostly. Hearing stories of people surviving on the remnants of their homes, refrigerators, mattresses, cushions, luggage, trunks. When I came back from that experience, I just looked at my materials in a whole other way. So when I was laying these materials out, I decided on the form; it was all about structure before it was about images. Then I realized, wow that just took the shape of a boat, and it just really came through. So I'll just call it Noah's ark."
Konte's skill is in making the found look like the massaged. Noah's Ark is no random assemblage but rather an intentionally rough eye drawing montage created by a gourmand of artistry. While no single piece of the work is left unadorned, it's not always clear that one person is responsible for each accouterment. One piece of luggage has a Lion of Judah painted in light blue acrylics, another ironing board has an elaborate dark blue beaded procession throughout it. But the variety of skill makes one wonder how one person could be responsible for all of it. That is until you meet Mr. Konte.
"I mean if you're using a piece of lumber you can't just sand it down and strip it and all that…You're missing part of the blessing that comes along with it. [Pointing to a piece of his work that looks like a small chair] Like "Seat 239." The wearing down of the print, the tatters on the bottoms of the slip covers of the ironing boards, each one is treated differently, a different technique, but I still wanted them to have a unified shape. So there's acrylic paint, oil paint, photo transfers, beads in blue, straight up ink, torch and screwdriver burnt thing material; it's an assemblage. My hopes were that it would still hold together, as one photograph, one band, one music. Most of the images are pre-Katrina. Even though I was there after and got lots of images of the devastation in the Ninth Ward--water lines ten feet high, swallowed up and spit out cars. It was just too much. We already knew that. We were inundated with those images; I didn't need to bring that. What I wanted was to bring New Orleans as we last wanted to see her. And really, on a really glorious day. Most of these images were from the Funeral of Big Chief Tootie Montana. Some say he was the funeral for New Orleans itself. That was the last great second line jazz funeral, commemorating one of the greatest culture men in New Orleans."
Hipped to Big Tootie's death by Bay Area artistic legend and social activist Marcel Diallo, Konte took his camera and his heart down to the Big Easy both before and after Katrina. But two years later, Konte is still doing the work of incorporating one of the most devastating events in recent memory into his art.
"I was on the phone this morning with Chuck Perkins. He's the loud mouth MC and poet extraordinaire from New Orleans and he'll be doing a rare Bay Area appearance at the Dark Room and at the Guerilla on Sunday. And at the Darkroom in San Francisco I'll be doing a slide show with his poetry. And then I'll show some pre- and post-Katrina images there. And you know, it just keeps coming back and as that story goes on I'm probably due for another visit just to see what has and has not been done."
His visit will have to wait until after August 12th as he'll be in a big show along with legendary artist Emory Douglas of the Black Panther Party. Konte has "re-mastered" some of Douglas's old political drawings into re-colored limited edition posters for a new generation. Konte's respect and admiration for Mr. Douglas is apparent when he speaks of the elder's talent and temperament.
"A lot of the images he made for the Black Panther paper were pen and ink. But his style looked very block cut or silk screened or separated out or something. But it's just pen and ink and his style that just represented on the paper. Sometimes it was two, maybe three colors. I always thought they'd lend themselves really well to the silkscreen process... He's definitely an under-celebrated artist. I mean it took forty years to make a book. But it's a beautiful book and I love to see him shine. He's just such a healthy and beautiful and strong cat. He's a great example. A lot of cats who came out of that era, if they came out of that era, came out with some serious scars, mental and physical. But he just seems to be shining, so I definitely want to honor him."
Keba Konte's 88 Pieces of Me will be shown next at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.
