With the desire for more female presence in Hip Hop, I knew I wanted to use the mandala, as I have been so often recently. The circle seems so feminine, the egg, the curve. From there, I started looking at the female hip hopartists I love. Erykah Badu is among the top on the list. I've been very drawn to the art work on her last couple of albums and searched a bit to find the artist. Love almost all of his work and am particularly inspired by his work with Badu and the creative relationship they have. From this album cover I new I wanted incorporate pink and purple into my wandering muse piece. I also began to think about using a the female form, not any specific woman. This lead me to two other hop hop album covers that I have always loved...
(For more on the collaborations between Erykan Badu & Emerk see:
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A Tribe Called Quest released these albums in the early 90s. I always loved the images of this figure. It's all about the tribal body not the individual. Tribe was also one of the original groups to bring conscious hip hop into the mainstream. I saw them performed the album above on the right, Midnight Marauders, last weekend. I definitely wanted to go with a close up figure like this but with zero doubt the gender is female.
I tried to find the artist who did this work to no avail. I even contacted JIVE records, who owns the rights to the cover art. So far, no reply. If anyone knows the artist, I'd love to be educated.
I thought I would listen to The Goddess Alchemy Project while painting and maybe incorporate some of their lyrics into the piece, for me they represent the divine feminine in hip hop. I also went to their website (http://www.goddessalchemyproject.com) to check out their artwork. They have creative talent moving in a lot of different directions. So, I was bound to find some inspiration...
This piece entitled "Alkemista" by Nikila Mamawisdom of the Goddess Alchemy Project, reinforced the mandala concept. From the overlapping mandala behind the woman's head in this painting came the idea of the overlapping of shapes and playing with the effect of the color and shade.
In the end, I discovered two artists in this process, Emek & Nikila Mamawisdom. I am still searching for the third artist who did the cover art for A Tribe Called Quest. The Wandering Muse piece I'm working on is almost complete. But you will have to wait for class next week to see it. So, far it looks nothing like these other artist's work but I can clearly see the influences. I'm like it so far.
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So, I was looking at my peers blogs and thinking maybe I want to redesign my blog. I open my blog to reassess the design and the visuals on the screen strike me...
ReplyDeleteThe first blog entry I see is images of hip hop albums covers: Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest, The Goddess Alchemy Project. These images are set against the background visual on my blog of a meadow in misty mountains. All I can think is,"Yes, that is my life." I need close connection with nature, Mama Earth, from her springs all that is creative dancing along the edge of the Cosmos on the surface of this planet.
I remember in my interview with Mike Grady for this program at JFKU, he seemed surprised and then curiously pleased that most of the inspiration for my abstract paintings is nature and that I often paint them outside. My guess is that most would assume some modern, psychedelic influence. But just look at images of our brilliant blue and green planet from space! Earth, nature, all of this life is vibrant. I thank Mama Earth that I was born into a species with color perception!! I cannot envision life without it.
My blog design reassessment turned out to be a remembering of all that inspires me and all that I love. Thank you!
i think the blog looks great, and i am super excited to see your muse project. thanks for posting the album art, too. i am drawn to the purple and psychedelic nature of the first image and love the form and graphic quality of tribe...third is right up your alley!
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