ART & ARTISTs
JAMES NELSON’S “ASA” MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
Afrofuturism - THE SUPREME SHOW
By Robere Lett | Art Curated by Asia Hamilton
The Supreme Show reached its final viewing at the phenomenal Norwest Gallery and Haute Is Online was invited to bask in the amazing fine art created by such an astounding array of mixed media creatives. Afrofuturism is the key to this collection of highly evolved conceptual installations featuring several artists. Included were:
Rachel Aderlinola Oye
Adeyemi Adegbesan
Matthew Corbin
James Nelson
Steven Mealy
vonMash
Stone
Ifoma
SU-PREME
/so͞oˈprēm/
depicts the cultural aesthetic of Afrofuturism as developing collision of sci-fi technology of the African Diaspora. This is a celebration of Black Culture and creativity through the exploration of future ideals.
Curated By Asia Hamilton
“The African diaspora consists of the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or Africa's peoples, predominantly in the Americas”.
JAMES NELSON’S - “SHIVA” MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
This show was made even more relevant with the wide and universal success of The Black Panther Marvel comic film come to life. Afrofuturism in its purest form has roots as far back as the 1950’s although the phrase was coined in the 1990’s by Mark Dery, Old School musicians such as George Clinton along with his mother-ship bands The Parliaments and Funkadelics epitomized every aspect of Afrofuturism with their elaborate and unconventional costuming, DJ and electronic artist extraordinaire Juan Atkins brought a sense of relevance of Afrofuturism in is music creating incredible sound waves that resonate globally, all through the eyes of Detroit. Mega entertainers of today such a Rihanna, Beyonce and Janelle Monae are all creatively locked into the Afrofuturistic mindset. How telling are the individual contributions by these amazing talents and what the future and past will hold.
RACHEL OYETUBO 18X24 MIXED MEDIA PORTRAITS “SHE IS POWERFUL | FEARLESS | INTELLIGENCE
ARTIST MATTHEW CORBIN
SCULPTOR | MIXED MEDIA ARTIST
Corbin’s trajectory into art education was circuitous. His father, a Tuskegee Airman, instilled a lifelong interest in drawing, transportation and exploiting the learning potential of every situation. Graduating from Cass Tech, Corbin studied industrial design at CCS, but sensed that the racial climate of the late 1960s, and his disdain for convention, would make the car industry a difficult work environment. Instead he took a job creating window displays for Hudson’s department store, a position that provided him with freedom, resources, and the endless new challenges he desired. Later he worked at the Children’s Museum, creating exhibits, displays, and lesson plans. This led to an offer to teach art in Detroit Public Schools, and eventually the dream job of teaching twice daily open-ended studio classes in Commercial Art to creatively gifted kids from throughout the city. Speaking with Corbin gave an even better understanding of his concepts of reusable elements and fashioning his art from found everyday items that he passes on the streets or views from a bus to later go back and feel a connected energy that allows his creative mind to be free and organic. The fact that within his art lies items that may be one day extinct and there by creating a whole new since of worth but because he prefers the items be damaged or well worn the only intrinsic value is the art itself.
PORTRAIT 1 ADEYEMI ADEGBESAN “OSHUN” DIGITAL PRINT | PORTRAIT 2 IFOMA “KALI THE DESTROYER” PHOTOGRAPHY + BODY PAINT PORTRAIT 3 VONMASH “KING OF QUEENS” DIGITAL MEDIA | PORTRAIT 4 VONMASH “RETRO QUEEN” DIGITAL MEDIA
STEVEN MEALY
SCULPTOR | MIXED MEDIA ARTIST
“POSITIVE SPACE TRAVELER”
Steven Mealy was born in Cincinnati Ohio and at a early age demonstrated a natural ability to create art.He graduated with a degree from Central State University with a degree in art education. Steven moved to Detroit In 1978 working at Nataki Taliban school later teaching art in Detroit public schools for Thirty years.
