phloe and doug's art opening

my roommate and her writer/poet friend had an art opening last thursday, april 29. april 29 is also the 12 year anniversary of the LA riots.

phloe's pieces supplemented and were based of of doug kearney's work. his poetry shed light on his views of racism, black identity, the appropriation of hip hop, stereotypes, and love.

the show is called The Jungle Baby Collabo Show/Minstrel Flows and is shown at cal arts in valencia.

here are some pictures of the night:


this piece i completely connected with. it was the first painting she did when she started with the series. basically, the form in the left's head is exploding and the figure in the right is trying to connect with him and get into his head.


now, the pictures do no justice on the colors of these paintings. they are very bright and vibrant but everytime anna tried to take a pic with the flash, there were hot spots in the pic due to the flash.




doug has a poem called "supa n!gga" and the chorus is "you build a monster slowly". it lists all the stereotypes of blacks thru out the era and how it builds up to explain the struggles of the the black community today.


another shot of the paintings. very whimsical. this is phloe's depiction of the sadness and the loneliness and how some people accept it. very doctor seuss-ish. its also commenting on how fantasy is used in order to depict a happy, perfect world, (ie. disney). her paintings are fantasy as well but not masking what is going on.


this is a 70's cat she found in a flea market. she didn't make it but she added it because it fits and it is sad looking. her pieces have that 60's psychodelic look, with 70's coloring, and graff influences.


another shot of the paintings


the artists. can you tell phloe looks uncomfortable in this pic. she didnt think she was going to be called up before doug's performances.


doug performing. he had some art work too, fusing his poetry and graphics of the LA riots


phloe didn't want to take pics with her work but darren was all for it! lol


and the photographer of the night, my sister anna. she took pics while i video taped. thanks, sis!

so of course, i can be off of on the interpretation of phloe's work. we talked about it afterwards. so take my words with a grain of salt and talk to her about it.

congrats, phloe!!