Rashaad Newsome is a multimedia artist, creating a whole new mix of art mediums and styles. He primarily works with collages and sculpture, while also designing images for album covers, background props in TV shows, and other promotional pieces (like custom automobiles) for various brands. He implements urban and African American culture into much of his art and include underlying commentary on gender and sexuality representation.
This stool was interesting to me because it is so different than the work I first saw Newsome made. They are “hand carved mahogany stool[s] with resin and custom automotive paint.” The name “Gemini” also puts additional emphasis on the figures being twins, both supporting each other and the stool itself.
This hat really got my attention when I was looking at Newsome’s homepage. “King of Arms Crown” is made from leather and jewelry. I think it shows that royalty is an overblown idea in society. Kings of Arms usually have the authority over granting titles and names, so this is giving agency to a class not usually given a voice.
ICON 2014 clip from RASHAAD NEWSOME on Vimeo.
This video was interesting to me by the mix of a real person and purposefully digital works, which is essentially the makeup of most of Newsome’s video art. The spinning dial to me seems like a coin and the dancer is celebrating it by dancing as if on a pedestal.