Rashaad Newsome

I had the privilege of meeting Rashaad Newsome in my class before his lecture. In this brief Q&A, Newsome told my class that he had the most formal training in video. Having no exposure to his work before, I was excited to see what sort of innovative editing or effects he might have in his video work.

I was met, however, with incredible still images, magnificent content of images, and underwhelming video work. Perhaps that was Newsome’s intention for his King of Arms project, though. The subject matter was more the focus than the editing, so while watching, one shouldn’t be distracted by editing, they should be paying attention to the parade or the crowning ceremony. This isn’t to say that Newsome’s video work wasn’t impressive or lacked artistic merit. I think it just subverted expectations that were built by the explanation of training in formal video editing.

In the classroom Q&A, my class also got a very brief look at the political side of Newsome’s work. Newsome says that nobody makes work that says what he wants it to say, so he must make it. Unfortunately, we live in a world where rich, white men get to determine what is acceptable. This results in a gap of black representation in every field, but especially art. Newsome is able to fill that gap not just by making art that appeals to white audiences, but by making art that is unapologetically black.

I was lucky enough to get this insight in the classroom talk, but this was left out of the lecture given to the larger group. I had to leave before the formal Q&A, so I’m not sure if it was addressed after I left, but I wish that Newsome could have used this lecture as an opportunity to speak about being a black artist in the world of fine art.

I think that taking the idea of “blackness” (i.e. hip hop culture, things that are considered “ghetto”) that upper class white people find uncomfortable and making it unavoidable is a part of Newsome’s art that he never addressed.