This is the second half of the cultural center adventure I engaged in last weekend. There was so much good stuff at the cultural center I couldn't find the time to fit it into one post.

Nina Chanel Abney

In one of the 2 huge rooms, was a retrospective of a painter named Nina Chanel Abney. She was born in Chicago but currently lives in New York and is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery.

Abney's newer work Employs taping-off of shapes and figures, kind of like what I am doing right now with my work. Her older work was much more inspiring though. Much more interesting to look at up close to see all the brushwork.

Her use of patterns and flat shapes is so good. These paintings are massive too, like 6 feet tall and wide.

Randaleeza, 2008
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

This image depicts former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice wearing a white bikini in a chaotic outdoor scene filled with attacking dogs and various males figures. Seated on the ground in the center is Abney's freidn, Randall. The title, Randaleeza is a combination of "Randall" and "condoleezza," a play on the blending of celebrity couple names popularized and perpetuated by the media. Abney's humorous and impossible scenario addresses the increasingly distorted distinction between such celebrity culture and the political realm. Rice's tabloid-style exposure echoes Randall's similarly vulnerable position among aggressive canines, a reference to the football player Micheal Vick, whos association with illegal dog fighting emerged in 2007. The paintings mash-up of allusions to a famous sports figure, a highly ranked politician, and an everyday citizen bring to attention the frequently blurred lines between nightly news sensations, current national events, and popular culture.

So her work is very political. Reminds me of my Facebook feed actually. I suppose political work used to be cool before all this exposure of the corruption started to come out since trump and stuff, I used to make political work too, when I was first undergoing the wake-up process.

The boardroom
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS

Abney upends expectations by setting a cast of eleven businessmen in a Turkish sauna instead of the traditional office meeting room that her title indicates. Painted in 2008 as politicians and analysts warned of an imminent global financial crisis, The Boardroom is a representation of corporate greed and nefarious financial dealings. One man, perhaps a symbol of the innocent victims of the financial crisis, is being held in a headlock. The calm and calculating demeanor of the aggressor is countered by the white face mask he holds before his face. Another figure stands barely clothed, wearing yellow rubber gloves stained with blood. Throughout the artist's work these rubber gloves are used to imply "dirty work" or to suggest more broadly that everyone is guilty of wrongdoing at some point. Using symbolism and an unexpected narrative setting, Abney presents a critique of the institutional forces of corporate greed, the willingness to ignore risk, and human overconfidence that led to the financial crisis and great recession.

My favorite painting was this one. I forgot the title. I was the largest painting of her older work. You can look up pictures of her newer work. It has more of a commercial look, with the clean stenciling unlike this stuff which I found very inspiring.

In her earliest paintings, Abney drew on her interest in the blurred lines of distinction between tabloid journalism and mainstream news media. This manifested in works such as The Party's Over and Randaleeza, both humorous yet critical commentaries on politics and popular culture or celebrity culture. These large scale paintings signaled Abneys willingness to use humor and satire to confront incendiary or controversial topics such as criminal justice, inequities in higher education, the global financial crisis, and the election of the country's first black president.

So her work is very relevant now, as the masses critique the fake news phenomenon. The "party" really is over for these evil satanic pedofiles that we prevented from getting into office. If Hillary got elected, truthers would be in Fema camps and Steemit would probably be illegal. Actually, probably 80 percent of the population would probably be dead due to nuclear war, but my opinion is that there are benevolent ET's observing the farm here on earth and our consciousness is too high for that, we are set to evolve into a more peaceful space faring cosmic human race.

Keith Haring

In the next giant room was a Keith Karing exhibit. It was a huge wall that he painted back in the 1980's in Chicago. A small fraction of the wall was on display at the Cultural Center along with many unique Keith haring artifacts.

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