Swirls of water and ice flow from the turban of a purple Erykah Badu as she rises from a pool of darkness.
Badu, neo-soul musician and activist, painted in oil on canvas will be mounted on the wall of Kerckhoff Art Gallery until Friday as part of the Undergraduate Students Association Council Cultural Affairs Committee’s Hip Hop Appreciation Month.
The exhibition, titled “The Hip-Hop Art Showcase,” features the work of three Los Angeles-based artists, Shplinton, Mukhtar Kaissi and Sabrae Smith. Co-programmed by CAC’s Art Series and Hip Hop Congress, the art show celebrates a facet of hip–hop culture that exists outside of music.
“Throughout the month we promote hip-hop culture,” said Mukhtar Kaissi, fourth-year fine arts student, Hip Hop Congress co-director and curator for the event. “But not just as a musical outlet, but as (the) different pillars of hip-hop, including graffiti writing, DJing, MCing and break dancing.”
After 11 years of Hip Hop Appreciation Month, this is the second year in which CAC includes an art gallery as part of the annual event. Members of CAC said they see an importance in exposing students to hip-hop conveyed through fine art.
“I want Hip Hop Appreciation Month to expand the awareness of hip-hop culture, especially to people who grew up outside of Los Angeles or California,” said Alex Kim, third-year biophysics student and member of both CAC’s Art Series and Hip Hop Congress.
In comparison to last year’s event, this year’s “Hip Hop Art Showcase” has a looser and less obvious definition of hip-hop-inspired art, Kaissi said.
Kaissi said he’d like students to pay attention to the subject matter of the art pieces in hopes that they will research and question any reference depicted that they don’t immediately recognize.
For instance, many black historical figures are depicted because black culture is so ingrained in hip-hop culture, Kaissi said.
As well as curating the event, Kaissi is also one of the artists showing in the gallery.
One of Kaissi’s pieces, titled “Audubon Ballroom,” depicts a floating Malcolm X bust looming over several smaller warped figures such as 2Pac.
He said this work was inspired by taking an “Islam in West” class at UCLA in fall 2013 and learning more about the history of the first Muslims in America.
“This art gallery has to do with hip-hop, but that piece is more of an analysis of the culture itself,” Kaissi said. “There are so many different facets of hip-hop that exist outside of what’s on the radio.”
On the side of the gallery opposite of Kaissi’s depictions of Malcolm X and Erykah Badu are portraits of Pulp Fiction characters in primary red and blue.
Quentin Thomas, also known as Shplinton, is the artist behind this work along with three other series of paintings in the gallery.
Ranging in mediums from watercolor to beer and using techniques from pointillism to portraiture, Thomas said his artistic point of view is always changing.
For inspiration, Thomas said he always listens to music while painting.
“With most of my art, there’s always music going on,” Thomas said. “It’s not so much the lyrics or the content in music, but the feeling that I get from it that’s reflected in my work.”
The gallery may not be playing hip-hop music, nor will any of the pieces depict images that one typically associates with a musical genre, but members of CAC said they feel what is really on display is hip-hop culture.
“The art gallery is there to show that hip-hop is not just music,” Kim said. “It’s an entire culture that influences all kinds of art.”