Studio Museum of Harlem, Dior, Love and Anthony David

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the opening of Kehinde Wiley's The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar, his first solo exhibition at The Studio Museum in Harlem which features ten new paintings from his multinational “The World Stage” series. It's amazing. I'm a huge fan of both Wiley and The Studio Museum of Harlem; the openings for new exhibitions are always something I look forward to. The openings usually draw an eclectic mix of folks - smart, hip, fashionable and trendsetters in their own regard and last night was no exception. The coupling of all this artistic energy and a few cocktails had me in bliss.

I have to talk about my purchase of the month for a second. I found a vintage Christian Dior track jacket this weekend. It's in great condition and a bought it for a steal. It doesn't get much better than that.

Moving on, I must admit that things are going really well with the homie-lover-friend. He's really an amazing man. I have never met anyone else like him. I've always said that my barometer for determining whether a relationship is worth it is "does he make me want to be a better man?" In this case - hell emphatically yes! We've been spending a lot of really good quality time together and merging our business interest as well. It seems to just flow. It may sound really strange, but he's taught me (still a work in progress because I have my moments) how to really love from an unconditional vantage point that's void of insecurity and ego. This means that I'm not seeking anything back in return. In this, his having a boyfriend has less of an affect on how I am able to be in this relationship because I love without the condition that he has to break up with his boyfriend. I know some folk may not be able to feel that, but that's where I am right now. I am also not going to block myself from anything else that may come along at this point. We will have to see how it all falls into place, though the homie-lover-friend has been doing a lot of talk about us settling in Atlanta.

I have officially decided that will not be returning to law school in the fall. I need to really figure out how this works into my life and things that I would like to do. I should probably be in film school or something that really feeds my creative energy. Whatever the case may be, I am in anticipation for greatness.

Lastly, I have had the Anthony David song "Words" on repeat for the last week. Check it out the lyrics really ring true.

ESTELLE

So I went to the Estelle Concert last night. It was incredible. There’s nothing like a concert in a small intimate space. You can chill, grab a good cocktail or two and just enjoy the music. Not only can this chick blow, but she's a true performer that embodies what music should be; it emotes from your heart, spirit and soul. She has this kind of sexy around the way girl kind of style that is definitely hot. She was accompanied by John Legend (she's the first artist on his label Homeschool) for the song Come Over. Let me be the first to say that he’s just as fine in person. She reminds me of Lauryn Hill in that she's a vocalist and a rapper mixed with a little Amy Winehouse because of her kind of gritty English style. The album drops today. It's a must have for those who like good music.

Not Boris...

Actor-model Boris Kodjoe assumed the role of Brick in the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof during a six-week-long movie-related leave of absence by Terrence Howard. Howard, will be out from April 15 to May 22 and will return on May 23. The limited engagement of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is scheduled to run through June 15. I have yet to see Cat, but I think that I will wait until Terrence Howard returns. Yes, Boris is great to look at, but I don't know if I could bear sitting through almost 3 hours of him on stage. I'm sure his addition to the cast will fill seats.

All Black Cast of "Cat" Finally Makes it to Broadway

I have been anticpating this for years. But it's finally going to happen - the staging of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" with an all Black cast. It's an all star line up. Though I have to admit, I was looking for to direction from Kenny Leon and Anthony Mackie in the role of Brick. Either way, I will be there when the curtain opens.

Studio Musuem of Harlem: Kori Newkirk

November 14, 2007-March 9, 2008

Kori Newkirk: 1997-2007

Kori Newkirk is a celebrated multidisciplinary artist whose conceptual practice is based on transforming modest materials into loaded signifiers that question both cultural and aesthetic notions of beauty. Newkirk elegantly blends medium and message-using photographs, wax, hair pomade, beads and neon lights-to forge a new paradigm in art practice. This survey exhibition presents work produced since Newkirk received his MFA from the University of California at Irvine, includes a site-specific project and illustrates how interrelated strands of his practice have converged and developed over time.

The Studio Museum in Harlem is the nexus for black artists locally, nationally, and internationally, and for work that has been inspired by black culture. It is a site for the dynamic exchange of ideas about art and society. The Executive Director, Thelma Golden, is smart, savy and stylilsh. She has managed to make her voice heard, known and recognized in an overwhelming white male art world. I have mention on several occasions that "I want to be like her when I grow up." It's a great exhibit that we should support, along with the Studio Museum of Harlem.

Get Some Culture - Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love

There is a truly amazing exhibit showing at the Whitney right now. At her New York debut at the Drawing Center in 1994, Kara Walker unveiled a daring reinvention of image-making in which she incorporated the genteel eighteenth-century medium of cut-paper silhouettes into her paintings. Since that time, she has created a poignant body of works that addresses the very heart of human experience, notions of racial supremacy, and historical accuracy.

This exhibition presents a comprehensive grouping of the artist’s work to date, featuring more than 200 paintings, drawings, collages, shadow-puppetry, light projections, and video animations that offer an extended contemplation on the nature of figurative representation and narrative in contemporary art. Drawing her inspiration from sources as varied as the antebellum South, testimonial slave narratives, historical novels, and minstrel shows, Walker has invented a repertoire of powerful narratives in which she conflates fact and fiction to uncover the living roots of racial and gender bias. The intricacy of her imagination and her diligent command of art history have caused her silhouettes to cast shadows on conventional thinking about race representation in the context of discrimination, exclusion, sexual desire, and love. “It’s interesting that as soon as you start telling the story of racism, you start reliving the story,” Walker says. “You keep creating a monster that swallows you. But as long as there’s a Darfur, as long as there are people saying ‘Hey, you don’t belong here’ to others, it only seems realistic to continue investigating the terrain of racism.”

Check out the link below for some interesting insight on the exhibit.

The Washington Post - "Symbols of Hatred in the Shadows" by Robin Givhan.