volume iii | issue 1

VOLUME III | ISSUE 1
WWW.ONEFOKUS.ORG/INSIGHT
Founded in the summer of 2003
by Alma Davila-Toro and Atiba T. Edwards,
F.O.K.U.S. support artists and audiences through events such
as workshops, concerts, art shows and our magazine, INSIGHT.
F.O.K.U.S. creates a continuously growing community where the arts strive
as we believe the arts enable people to rise above barriers in society.
F.O.K.U.S. expands the view on what is considered an art and
raises awareness to the benefits and need of creativity.
CONTENTS
Volume III | Issue 1
02 Letter From the Editor
03 Street Style
04 Forever Foxy
08 Sights and Sounds of Jamaica
12 Nothing Standing in Her Way
14 The Many Portraits of a Man
20 Solus
27 Life Acrylic
28 Black Sand on Concrete: A Performance Art
36 Recession Art
40 Route 6
41 Glow Shapes at Preschool
42 Infinite Playlist Chapter 1: Curated
44 Cover art: Haitian Generals
Street Style
Art
articles / Q&A
Photograpy
poetry
F.O.K.U.S. CRU
Infinite Playlist
PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER / ATIBA T. EDWARDS
Atiba is a perpetual visionary that likes to do art in the dark since it is easier to see the true light.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / MAYA POPE-CHAPPELL
Maya Pope-Chappell is a freelance writer and multimedia journalist from Oakland, California. She currently resides in
Brooklyn.
EDITOR / ALLISON MARITZA LASKY
Allison is an Assistant Director of a Preschool in downtown Brooklyn. She is working on a masters in public health and is
a participant in other non-profit work.
LAYOUT & DESIGN / JEFF ALBERT
Jeff is a creative type whose favorite questions are Why? and What if...? In that order.
CONTRIBUTORS / ANEICKA BOOKAL / EMILY CARMEN / ATIBA T. EDWARDS / MEGAN FINNEGAN / ALEJANDRO GUZMAN / MOLAUNDO JONES / ALLISON MARITZA LASKY /
LARRY LOPATA / MAYA POPE-CHAPPELL / BUD RAMSAY / ALZO SLADE / VINEETH THOMAS
WWW.ONEFOKUS.ORG/INSIGHT
Questions and comments can be directed to [email protected]
Submission inquiries can be sent to [email protected]
All advertising inquiries can be directed to [email protected]
INSIGHT is published by F.O.K.U.S. Inc.
All rights reserved on entire contents. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions
expressed in articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of F.O.K.U.S. or its subsidaries.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Volume III | Issue 1
2010 opened with a devastating earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti
and killed hundreds of thousands of people. The images that came out of
the region days after the 7.0 quake showed suffering in its rawest form—
piles of mangled bodies, survivors covered in blood and dust, and portions
of lifeless bodies pinned beneath the rubble.
The cover image, “Haitian Generals” by Alejandro Guzman, evokes the
strength and resilience that continues to flow through the blood of Haiti’s
people. Guzman created the series of drawings based on recognizable
photographs of Black revolutionary leaders such as Toussaint L’Ouverture,
Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Georges Biassou. Using art to look at the
social, cultural and political history of Haiti, Guzman says he hopes the
drawings will encourage people to look to the past as inspiration for how
to rebuild Haiti.
Inside the first issue of Vol. III, is a Q&A with Emmy-nominated illustrator
Wayne Coe. Coe speaks to his recent venture into sand painting, an art inspired by old school male porn ads. This issue also features dope photos
of solitude from Alzo Slade, a heartbreaking, but triumphant autobiographical story by Emily Carmen, and more.
As you thumb (or click) through the pages, you’ll also notice that we’ve
given this issue a bit of a facelift, complete with new features and a colorcoded layout. Let us know what you think about the
new look and the content by sending us a message at
[email protected].
Maya Pope-Chappell
2 | INSIGHT
Photo by Maya Pope-Chappell
Street Style: Grayed Out
Rebecca Turbow
Soho Gallery
Forever Foxy
Words and art by
Molaundo Jones
“Forever Foxy” is an ode to the indomitable Pam Grier. The first time
I saw her was in the classic Blaxploitation era film “Coffy.” With her
gun in hand and stylized expletives,
“Foxy” was always ready to show
men that she was not to be taken
for a joke. And she always looked
so good while doing it. I hope that
people who view the work can feel
her power, intensity, beauty, and
rebelliousness. This oil painting
on canvas is a life-size composite
referencing two iconic photographs
of Ms. Grier. It is my first painting
of 2010.
4 | INSIGHT
Forever Foxy
Oil on canvas, 30"x40"
Atlanta Studio
Molaundo Jones is a painter currently living and
working between New York City and London. He
has an MFA degree in Fine Arts from the School of
Visual Arts (SVA) and has most recently exhibited
in Brooklyn's Skylight Gallery. His work can also be
found in the collection of Maya Angelou.
www.molaundo.com
www.vimeo.com/molaundo
Photo by Ely Key
Photo by Ely Key
Photo by Ely Key
Sight and Sounds
of Jamaica
Words and art by
Bud Ramsay
My paintings are inspired by the
sights and sounds of my native Jamaica and the colorful memories of
my times spent there in my youth.
My mother always had a garden
and my father was a florist, thus
8 | INSIGHT
my use of vibrant and vivid colors.
The darker colors represent the
violence and struggle I witnessed
in the midst of such beauty.
Bud Ramsay is a singer/songwriter and founder of
FYRE Zone, an organization established to work
with inner city and at-risk youth with a passion for
music and the arts. He resides in Brooklyn, New
York. Check out his site at www.fyrezone.com or
contact him directly at [email protected]
“Colors of my Mind”
“Faith and Hope”
“Island Home”
Nothing Standing
in Her Way
Words by Emily Carmen
2003 was the year I almost died.
My heart rate had plummeted
enough for me to black out. For five
years, I suffered from extreme pains
in my limbs, which made it impossible to walk. My weight dropped
drastically to a nearly life threatening low. Finally, after being repeatedly misdiagnosed and almost
having to have a pacemaker put in,
I was diagnosed with Porphyria, a
rare metabolic disorder. Little did I
know that the frustration and fear
of my disease would inevitably
show me my strength. Porphyria,
my kryptonite, reconnected me
with my one true love—music—a
love that would neither fail nor ever
leave me.
Seven years ago, I was forced to
leave Berklee College of music and
return home because of my health.
The decision meant putting my life
and dream of being a composer on
hold. For five years, I was in and
out of hospitals and extreme pain. I
found solace in listening to my favorite artists, subconsciously taking
notes of the musical composition
12 | INSIGHT
and the innuendos in their lyrics
that would inspire my own. How
Freddie Mercury established simple
piano melodies within the harder
rock tunes of Queen songs, or Kurt
Cobain’s guitar and harsh singing
style as he verbalized the pain I
could no longer describe. Mercury’s lyrics to “Keep Yourself Alive”
and “Who Wants to Live Forever”
made me not want to give up, while
Cobain’s “Something’s in the Way,”
triggered a deep longing I had for
my violin.
As my body’s healing ensued, my
guitar became my physical and
emotional best friend, leading me
to write my first recorded song
“Something’s.” I composed the track
in the studio my father built for
me in our basement. There, within
the comfort of my own home, I
could strum the cords of my guitar,
play my violin, mess around with
the electric drum kit and SONAR
recording software.
“Something’s standing in my way
/ so instead I think today / that I’ll
just walk away,” were lyrics I wrote
born out of my frustration with my
Photo by Maya Pope-Chappell
Emily Carmen
disorder and how I wanted to just
give up and let go.
“Something’s” became my public
service announcement to the
world—how we sell ourselves to be
what others expect or intend for us
to be, all the while forgetting about
ourselves—an experience I know
all too well having lived through
Porphyria. My disease forced my
being to confront its capabilities,
passions and most genuine identity.
My voice, through a pitch shifter,
ended the song with the words,
“Game Over,” conveying life’s identity as a game we have control over
in the moments we trust and own
ourselves.
Being a Porphyria patient was a
boon to my renewed passion for
music. Each of my songs come
from my deep rooted fears, disappointments, enlightened moments
and internal processes that collaborated in helping me realize that
I could depend on music to get me
through tough times. Music was my
best friend that helped me when
“something” was “standing in my
way.”
Emily Carmen is a composer, songwriter, lyricist,
musician and performer who creates original music
in her home studios located in NY and LA.
www.EmilyCarmen.com
[email protected]
INSIGHT | 13
The Many Portraits
of a Man
Words by
Vineeth Thomas
Rays of the sun caught the Brooklyn Queens Expressway on
a chilly fall day as I approached a
small photo studio on President
Street. The studio is home to Victor
Giganti, a Brooklyn-based artist
whose difficult journey has never
diminished his zest for life.
A photographer by profession and
passion, Giganti always has a smile
on his face. On entering his home,
photographs on the walls wrestled
for attention. One black and white
photo showed a group of kids in
Cuba, one of them pulling a piece
of gum three feet from his mouth.
Another was a coy glimpse of a
14 | INSIGHT
bride snapped on her wedding day.
A third, in color, had a ruggedly
handsome man fixing visitors with
an intense gaze.
Giganti walked around his small
apartment explaining his work. “I
think that I’m a born portrait artist,”
said the 66-year-old.
Giganti’s voice had a youthful quality to it, which sat unusually with his
weathered face, smooth scalp and
glasses. A stool greeted me just like
another subject of Giganti’s shoots.
The scene came to life as I experienced how a photo shoot worked.
The clicks of the shutter were
interspersed with the photographer
giving instructions about what he
wanted to see.
Photo by Ely Key
Photo by Ely Key
PhotoPhoto
by Victor
by Ely
Giganti
Key
Vineeth Thomas
The subjects that appear in front of
Giganti’s lens are diverse, ranging from criminal lawyers to street
hustlers. One particular subject,
lawyer Nicholas Wooldridge, is
a yoga enthusiast like Giganti.
Photographs of Wooldridge show
beautifully intricate yoga poses with
his body off the ground balancing
on his hands.
Even though he has done it only a
handful of times, Wooldridge said
posing for Giganti was special. “It’s
easy to connect with him,” said
Wooldridge. “He is able to really
capture you as a person—the reality of a person. It’s not an artificial
pose. The photo shows whoever I
am—who I think I am.”
It was relatively easy to get Wooldridge to pose since they were
friends for a while before Giganti
asked him to step in front of the
lens. But what about the street
hustler with a violent, drug-riddled
past who agreed to go nude for the
camera?
“When he comes here, all of his
anger at the world leaves him and
he turns into this other person,”
said Giganti. “It’s the magic of art.
We work as artists together and he
transforms.” Giganti said he could
empathize more with such subjects
because of his own personal
struggles through the years.
One of the near-insurmountable
hurdles arose at a time when he
18 | INSIGHT
was still trying to discover his form
of artistic expression. In 1974, he
was hit in his right eye with a champagne cork and lost his retinal vision permanently. One day, not long
after that, he had a life-changing
experience.
Giganti was out driving with a friend
over the George Washington Bridge
in New York City, and his friend
had a pair of binoculars. “I was
listening to some fabulous music, I
looked out through the binoculars
and I saw a composition for the first
time,” said Giganti. He realized he
was composing a photograph in his
mind and continued doing so long
before he ever held a camera.
“My reason for buying a camera
after recomposing the world
through binoculars was to have
some evidence of what it was I was
seeing. The change of perspective
and depth of field and the power
of composition through a lens was
exciting to me.”
Once Giganti started taking photos,
people immediately saw him as an
artist. “It was different back when I
first began to photograph because
everyone didn't walk around snapping away at every nuance in their
life with cell phones and other
capturing devices,” said Giganti.
“Photography had a more powerful
impact because it took effort and
intention.”
Embracing the shifting tides
Photo by Victor Giganti
Vineeth Thomas
through the decades has given
Giganti more appreciation for
photography and a thirst to learn
new things. “It has trained me in
another aspect of being alive, navigating the world.”
Vineeth is a freelance writer and student at CUNY
Graduate School of Journalism. He is an international student and has reported in India and the
Middle East.
www.thomasvineeth.com
INSIGHT | 19
Solus
Words and photos by
Alzo Slade
The notion of solitude has a significant influence on my work. There is
a certain freedom that I enjoy while
in solitude that can give birth to
both happiness and angst. When
alone, I am left to the company of
self. If I dare invite honesty into
the conversation, I run the risk of
learning things about my character
that need to be adjusted. Solitude
allows me to hear this conversation. The fundamental substance of
growth is learning, which has mostly to do with listening. Although the
ability to listen is important while
among people, as I refine this skill
in solitude it allows me to be better
20 | INSIGHT
with people and subjects that I
photograph. I find myself increasingly able to listen to them when
they are not speaking. Many times
I will simply grab my camera and
walk the silence of the streets. As
I am walking, I shut up, listen and
I only speak when spoken through.
Solitude is personal and mysterious.
For that very reason it would be
an intrusion upon your freedom to
read them if I described what motivated me to capture each one. With
that in mind, it can be noted that
the images you see here are a result of my fascination with solitude
and the paradoxical relationship it
has with freedom and despair.
www.alzoslade.com
Photo by Ely Key
Photo by Ely Key
Photo by Ely Key
Life Acrylic
Words by Larry Lopata
Street mangled mysteries dissipate in the rising steam.
In the twilight there are few available to tell the tales
Those that can carry expressions from shame to fame
Their grin tips there hand and reflects times had
Like the garbage those on the short side wish it to be cleared away
While others wish to ride the feeling out to its fullest
Mine is vested in the energy of the calm of now
That brief moment when the city is caught waking up
When the stage is being set for the next myriad of moments
The living painting that is the city
INSIGHT | 27
Black Sand on Concrete:
A performance Art
An Interview by
Maya Pope-Chappell
What do male porn ads, sand and
pavement have in common? Wayne
Coe. The Emmy nominated illustrator and Los Angeles native began
sand painting last spring after
being inspired by a series of drawings he did called “Artsploitation”
on male porn ads from the 1960’s,
70’s, and 80’s.
Coe began squatting in front of
museums and galleries using a
few paintbrushes and black sand
as a transient medium to recreate these ads with contemporary
artists on concrete. The decision
to do sand paintings he says, was a
stark departure from his work as
an illustrator creating film posters
for movies like “Out of Africa”
and “Back to the Future,” and title
sequences for shows like “Storymakers” on AMC. I caught up with
Coe, whose work has appeared
on pavement from New York City
to Switzerland, to find out more
about his meticulous, yet fleeting
form of art work.
28 | INSIGHT
Mpc: How did pavement become
your medium of choice?
WC: As soon as I decided it was
going to be a public activity, pavement was the obvious canvas
in front of me. When I first did it
[on pavement], it seemed very
crude cause it has all these holes
and valleys and when you drop
sand, it drops into those and you
can’t move it around with a piece
of cardboard like you can on flat
wood. You have to brush it out of
those valley’s to control it. But over
time, I’ve become completely used
to that. It seems like a great drawing medium.
MPC: Where did you create your
first public sand painting?
WC: My first sand painting performance was in front of Pacewildenstein in Chelsea [New York City]. I
chose the gallery because they had
a high profile Alex Katz show, an art
star featured in one of my “Artsploitation” drawings. And the response
was incredibly enthusiastic from a
variety of communities. The entire
local community was excited about
Photo by Jim Ryce
Photo by Terrenceo Hammond
Wayne Coe
this memory, this mythology I was
resurrecting through sand.
MPC: You've compared advertisements to sand paintings. How are
the two related?
WC: Advertising isn’t that different
from sand painting. A studio will
take 40 million dollars and pour it
into posters, street ads, billboards,
radio, TV [film] ads and in two
months it’s all gone. So how is that
so different than a sand painting.
For me, it’s kind of dystopian insertion of chance into artwork.
MPC: So you don’t mind people
trampling through your artwork
after you’ve spent 5 to 8 hours
working on it?
WC: Well it completes the piece.
So it makes me feel good. People
are standing around me towards
the end of the creation of the piece
and they are yelling “this is amazing. This is beautiful. They should
make it permanent.” But as soon as
I stand up, and cease the performance, suddenly people don’t
see it at all and they walk right
through it. So the very people that
are cheering it, won’t see it if I’m
not squatting down on the ground
executing it. And they’ll erase it.
And it seems perfectly appropriate
that they, whoever they are, the
community, should be the one erasing this piece about transients of
community.
MPC: Has anyone ever intentionally
interfered with your sand paintings?
WC: Generally, there’s no interference or negative input at all. Except,
there’s always the person that owns
the building in front of which you’re
doing it, [who] are never quite sure
of what to make of it. Everyone
expects me to be a graffiti artist. To
etch it into the concrete. To spray
paint over it. These were never in
my mind. And it’s one of the first
things I have to assure people of.
MPC: Speaking of the building
owner, do you ever get permission
to create art on the sidewalk or do
you normally just set up shop?
WC: I find if I ask permission,
lets say 1 in 10 people don’t like
what I’m doing, if for any reason I
happen to bump into that 1 of 10,
they’re going to say no. And then
what do I do? I know what I’m doing is good and important and also
utterly harmless. So in a way, the
resistance of the institution or the
gallery or the artist, is way more a
reflection of them then it is of me
and what I’m doing.
MPC: Have you ever been harassed by the cops?
WC: Most police come by and
they’ll inquire what I’m doing
and they’ll inquire if it’s permanent. Soon as they see I’m sand
painting, they think I’m a fool and
they say “Have a nice day.” If a
INSIGHT | 31
Photo by Maya Pope-Chappell
business owner calls the cops, and
says someone’s doing something
they don’t like, then it becomes a
different issue. For some reason
the police feel obligated to take action. And that’s what happened at
Sotheby's [art auction house based
in New York City] on auction night.
They threw five police officers at me
[who] prevented me from completing my sand painting. And I got a
ticket, [which] was successfully
dismissed.
MPC: What’s the best part about
32 | INSIGHT
sand painting?
WC: The social interaction with
the community. That’s one of the
most important elements of it. It’s
a beautiful way to get involved in
multiple communities. All my work
tries to draw attention to dissipated
communities and show how they’re
still alive now in the fine art world.
MPC: You’re normally surrounded
by a mass of people who watch
you as you create your sand paintings. What makes it so universally
fascinating to people?
WC: I think the content and the
material is provocative, but not
offensive. I think the skills to be
able to do it in a semi-photographic
fashion using sand out of a coffee
cup and a couple paint brushes
shows a very strong skill set.
MPC: What’s the motivation behind
your look?
WC: I made the decision to dress
like that for these performances
[because] it has a specific impact
on people. I work on the pavement near the gutter and I want to
differentiate myself from the other
people I see on the pavement near
the gutter.
MPC: Do you make money doing
this?
WC: I haven’t figured out precisely
how to make cash doing this yet.
MPC: Have you ever considered a
tip jar?
WC: I don’t want tips. I don’t know
INSIGHT | 33
Photo by Maya Pope-Chappell
what I would do with quarters and
dollars and change. I want commission. This is very valuable work.
Right now I’m giving it away.
MPC: What makes for the best
pavement pieces?
34 | INSIGHT
WC: No rain. When I did it at the
porn location, 55th Street Playhouse, within 10 minutes right after
I finished, it began to pour. And it
began chopping up the sand painting like cheese. The droplets were
literally cutting holes in it. It was
just wonderful. And there was some
woman behind me like “Oh no!
It’s getting washed away! All that
time!” And I felt quite the opposite.
I felt quite high because it seemed
like a divine erasure as opposed to
an earth bound erasure. That was
probably the funnest close to a
performance.
Learn more about Wayne Coe at:
Prostoryboard.com
Waynecoe.com
INSIGHT | 35
Recession Art
Words by
Megan Finnegan
Reusing found materials is one
way artists are coping with a bad
economy, and Ian Trask is no
exception—give him a sack of old
belts, and he'll make a Christmas
tree. Add on framed collages and
bent-fork creations, and he’ll give
you such an exhibition as he did
at Recession Art’s Bull and Bear
Market last December.
At 20-something, sisters Emma
and Ani Katz founded Recession
Art two years ago to provide local
artists with an affordable venue to
showcase and sell work. They also
wanted to give the public opportunities to purchase original artwork
without breaking the bank.
“People say it's a great idea,” said
Ani, a Brooklyn-based photographer. “I don’t really love going to
white box galleries in Chelsea [New
York City] where somebody blares
at you from behind the counter.”
36 | INSIGHT
Recession Art’s first show attracted
over 200 patrons and featured a
host of unusual objects from artists
like Pamela Criscarfi, who fashions
necklaces out of found objects,
cobbling together antique earrings
and parts of music boxes. “Everybody here is really committed to
a whole reclaimed, re-purposed
concept,” Criscarfi said during the
event.
In comparison, Recession Art takes
just 25 percent commission from
sales, a significantly friendly cut
compared with the 50-60 percent
some large galleries collect. The
ability to do this stems from their
fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas, a non-profit organization that provides financial and legal
support to its members and allows
individual artists to benefit from
non-profit status.
Adam Natale, Director of Membership and Program Development at
Fractured Atlas, said budget cuts at
Photo by Photo
Meganby
Finnegan
Ely Key
Megan Finnegan
the New York State Council on the
Arts have hurt their members, but
that generally he hasn’t seen donations decline. “Our membership has
actually grown during the recession,
with people realizing they need
extra help during this tough time,”
explained Natale who also noted
that the tough economy is leading
people who have lost work to turn
to creative endeavors.
In some ways the survey quantifies
what artists already know—about
two thirds of artists work additional
jobs; 71 percent of respondents
find grants, fellowships or scholarships “very helpful” resources—but
it also articulates an optimism that
not all career tracks are experiencing.
Nathan Carter, a recent graduate of
the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, is an
example of this theory. He runs the
wood shop at the university, and
displayed his handmade woodwork
at the event. While waiting for the
market to recover, Carter said
architects have to “find something
else to do for a few years, which
38 | INSIGHT
Photo by Megan Finnegan
A report released by Leveraging Investments in Creativity came to the
same conclusion as Natale. “Many
artists are hopeful despite the economic downturn, because they see
it as an opportunity to experiment,”
stated the report in its preliminary
findings of a national survey.
is ironically good for the arts. A
lot of architectural people are very
artistic.”
Recession Art’s next show in the
spring has already received 70
art submissions for 15 slots—and
the sisters hope it will continue to
grow. “There’s no point in waiting
for an opportunity to be given to
us,” Emma said. “Why wait until the
recession is over? Let’s just do it
ourselves!”
Megan is a writer in New York City with an
undergraduate degree in theatre. She is currently
a master's candidate at CUNY Graduate School of
Journalism.
www.meganfinnegan.com
Emma and Ani Katz at the
Recession Art's Bull and Bear
Market's show last December
Photos by Megan Finnegan
Route 6
Words by Aneicka Bookal
If you kissed me on my cheek...my eyelids...would lips follow, breath mingling, palms caressing the underside of my thigh. I'd smile that secret smile.
Joy like this is meant to be secreted away, like movie tickets from first
dates and love letters stained with lipstick and perfume. Way deep down it
would curl in my chest like something living, so powerful that it would tickle
me and I'd laugh out loud to myself on the bus and smile...
Aneicka is a grad student at NYU and resides in Brooklyn, NY. She can be contacted at [email protected].
40 | INSIGHT
A Bright Future
Photo by Allison Maritza Lasky
Credit
Title (Location)
Description
Credit Info
Infinite Playlist: Chapter 3
A Revolution Is Nothing More Than a Choreographed Dance
Curated by Atiba T. Edwards
It takes a brave soul to start a revolution just as it takes a brave soul to
start a dance. On the latter, we've all been in this situation: at a party
where everyone is wall flowering when suddenly a circle forms around
one person dancing, whose energy is so infectious, it makes everyone else
want to dance (think of how folks go from strangers to a choreographed
dance team like the electric slide at wedding parties). A revolution,
whether one of love, human condition, arts etc., takes a person with an
energy and spirit so contagious, that it precedes any physical contact.
This energy gets the buy-in from a group of people who want to be part
of this revolution. A revolution is started just like a dance, it takes the
confidence of knowing that in order to start it, one will be alone on the
floor.
Thelonius Monk – I’ll Follow You (The Complete Blue Note
Recordings)
Nina Simone – Revolution (To Love Somebody)
“Singing about a revolution / Because we talking about a change / It’s more
than just air pollution / Well you know you got to clean your brain”
Erykah Badu – The Healer (New Amerykah, Pt. 1 [4th World
War])
“You don't have to believe everything you think / We've been programmed /
Wake up / We miss you”
The Black Eyed Peas – Rockin’ To The Beat (The E.N.D.)
“What is a band that can't really rock? / What's a MC that's rock on the
spot? / What is a mic that ain't got no cable? / What's a DJ without the
turn table? / What's a hot girl if she can't really dance? / What's electro
without wearing tight pants? / What's a rhythm if it just don't bump?”
DJ Hell – U Can Dance feat. Bryan Ferry (Teufelswerk)
“There's a world awaiting / way beyond the sea / How I love to travel / Baby
will you come with me”
Gorillaz – Rock The House (Demon Days)
“Get funkier than funkadelic wearin’ pampers / While you eggheads is on
42 | INSIGHT
the wall preparing answers / Sharing transcripts while we over here / Dippin’ and dancin’ / Rhythm romancin’”
Si Se – More Shine (More Shine)
“More shine today / Let’s just say / things aren’t and always quite as good
as they seem / So how good can they be”
Sizzla – Rise To The Occasion (Rise To The Occasion)
“Need no distractions, stay focused because it now begins / Got to achieve
your goals and it so vivid / No crime, no killing, no confusion / Life is so real,
no time for disillusion / Just like mom would say, love is the solution / Keep
making music, you'll become a musician”
dead prez – Last Days Reloaded feat. Onyx – (Turn off the
Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin’)
“Streets ain’t ready for no revolution / but neither am I / I’m at the club getting stupid / I ain’t got no time to think about whose oppressing me / I’m to
ready to smash the first ... stressing me”
Nina Sinatra – Bang, Bang (How Does That Grab You?)
“We rode on horses made of sticks / He wore black and I wore white / He
would always win the fight”
Final Fantasy – Lewis Takes Action (Heartland)
“The stony hiss of cockatrice has cast us into serfdom / I close my eyes,
and spur Imelda down the mountainside / For a liberated Spectrum”
Dizzy Gillespie – Things To Come (Dizzy Gillespie Big Band)
Gnarls Barkley – The Last Time (St. Elsewhere)
“When was the last time you danced / Then come rock with me baby /
Dance with me darling / Step with me sweetheart / The world is watching”
INSIGHT | 43
COVER ART: Haitian Generals
Volume III | Issue 1
Alejandro Guzman
From the series titled “They’ll
Never Take It From Us,” 2010
Mixed Media on Paper
The main concern of my art is the perilous state of our emotional life, narcissism, egoism, boredom, neurosis and
existential anxiety. These terms struggle
to characterize a life lacking in purpose,
passion, enthusiasm, and the ability to
communicate.
I believe that art and artists should aim to
provide its viewer with the power to act.
Art should seek to communicate with the
world at eye level—not just as outside
critics, but also as equal participants. Applying this ideal to my own work, I hope
that my art doesn’t just refer to democracy,
but that it acts as democracy.
44 | INSIGHT
My work responds to the changing nuances of every day life. Therefore, I get
out of the studio to feel, touch and to be
the seismograph of the social, cultural,
and political reality that surrounds me.
This awareness dictates the working and
conceptual methods of my art. Through
painting, drawing, and collage, my art
explores both traditional and contemporary processes of re-appropriation and
formal manipulation of images. I bring
together bits and fragments that can’t
and don’t deliver a satisfying story in the
end, but creates meaning by bringing
unity to these separate things. My goal
is to create art that responds to the
world and to daily life at eye level—to
restore the possibilities of the individual
within the global world.