When you hear the term “Hip Hop culture”, a few things may come to mind: graffiti tags across a subway train, the hottest deejay in town holdin’ it down on the ones and twos on a Saturday night, or perhaps a flashback of a member of Rock Steady showing off some moves. Chances are that one of the last things that you would think of would be a marble floored Smithsonian Museum a mere block or two from the Verizon Center in downtown Washington D.C. with security guards spaced evenly throughout the premises while keeping a watchful eye over the all-ages crowd of museum-hopping tourists.
Well, it’s time to banish the misconception. Hip Hop has hit the Smithsonian Institute! This is not the first time, and it may not be the last either, but one thing makes this exhibit that focuses on Hip Hop particularly unique. Until October 26th, 2008, you can catch photographs, short films, and painted portraits of musical greats such as KRS-ONE, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Common, Jurassic 5, and Erykah Badu at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery at 8th and F St. NW. At first glance none of this seems out of the ordinary, considering that it’s not hard to see that a photograph or a painting with somebody’s face in it would be considered a form of portraiture. However, take a look at the four twenty-foot-long graffiti murals put together by local writers Con (Tim Conlon) and Arek (Dave Hupp), and you may wonder how pieces that don’t showcase a face, or any part of a person at all for that matter, made it into a portrait gallery.
An article in the February 2008 issue of Smithsonian Magazine entitled “Aerosol Art” by Jess Blumberg explained the reasoning behind this decision, stating that when tagging, a person’s name serves the purpose of representing who they are. In the same sense that you look at a picture and recognize somebody’s face, repeatedly seeing the same person’s tag throughout the city causes you to uniquely recognize them as well.
The intentions of the exhibit seem altruistic on the surface, but did the execution really prove successful? There were certainly skeptics amidst the Hip Hop community. Prominent Hip Hop photographer Ernie Paniccioli expressed distaste at the Smithsonian in general since, “Native American artifacts and sacred objects [have] been stolen for decades by The Smithsonian,” and attributed cooperation with the organization to part of the reason why “pioneers” may never receive the respect and recognition that they deserve. “They disregarded the lessons of history, the vile intent of a corporation, and felt all warm and fuzzy inside and gave their personal, priceless belongings to this museum and disrespected my counsel,” stated Mr. Paniccioli in reference to the artists that contributed their work to Smithsonian exhibits, while he wondered why the Smithsonian would “choose an artist to represent Hip Hop that has no connection to any of the five elements of Hip Hop culture” in regards to Kehinde Wiley (the artist who painted the portraits featured later in the exhibit).
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Even if you’re a supporter of the Smithsonian and what it does, it would be difficult to be able to say that the Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture exhibit did the culture justice. For instance, take the aforementioned graffiti murals. With paint hitting canvas instead of the typical brick wall, subway train, bridge, or highway sign, something just didn’t feel right. The lines of the pieces were so perfect that you would swear it was done with a paintbrush rather than an aerosol can. The “click, clack” sound of the cans of spray paint didn’t register in your mind while you stood and stared at the murals that hung on the ornate walls. There was no vocal figure that sounded reminiscent of former New York City Mayor Ed Koch standing around while demanding that the pieces be painted over immediately, or that put wolves behind barbed wire fences in order to deter graffiti writers from getting access to their canvas of choice – the trains. There was not even a mere mention of those instances in graffiti’s history on the small sign next to the pieces that was there to inform visitors about the artists and graffiti in general. You knew that at no point in the process of painting the pieces did either artist have to dodge law enforcement or worry about how long it would take before somebody else tagged over their work. The lawlessness and that rawness of the streets was absent. And to add insult to injury, the canvas used was painted to resemble a subway train.
The photography element of the exhibit featured the work of David Scheinbaum, and was comprised of black and white photographs of rappers and deejays during live performances. The choice to keep the photographs void of color gave a somewhat timeless feel to the pieces, however if you looked at the dates the photographs were taken you would see that the least recent picture in the exhibit was from 2000. Seeing KRS-ONE circa 2002 is one thing, but being able to see photographs of him in his earlier days would have been nice as well. It felt like about 30 years of history was missing from the room.
The high point of the exhibit (if you had to assign one) was to be found in a room containing various paintings done by Kehinde Wiley. Featuring bold colors and an interesting approach to featuring various notable names of Hip Hop, this room was a breath of fresh air. Ice-T could be seen sitting in a throne, LL Cool J sat comfortably in an elaborately fashioned chair in front of a blinding green and orange patterned background, and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five stood adorned with large chains, fitted hats, jeans, and t-shirts. On top of being eye catching, colorfully-creative, and intricately detailed, the paintings looked identical to the people they portrayed. You would have no trouble recognizing them even if there weren’t signs that explained who they were.
Also found in the exhibit was a section containing poetry by Grammy-nominated Nikki Giovanni (who you may have heard of in Kanye West or Nas tracks), three short films by Jefferson Pinder, and what was labeled as an “mixed media installation” by Shinique Smith that surprisingly gave off more of a street feel than the graffiti pieces that stood just outside of the room. An image of Tupac, drips of black paint down the white walls, vibrant colors, and obscure items such as a pair of shoes on the floor made the installation stand out; almost so much so that you may have missed Giovanni’s work that adorned the walls just mere feet away.
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The overall sanitized and refined feel of the exhibit was a tremendous disappointment that didn’t make much sense. Perhaps the Smithsonian wasn’t quite ready for hip hop yet. And at the same time, maybe Hip Hop isn’t ready for the Smithsonian yet either. As Ernie Paniccioli pointed out, “an underlying aspect of all of the elements of Hip Hop is that on one level or another they fuck with you. Fuck with your comfort zone, fuck with your smugness, fuck with your feeling of safety, fuck with your idea of art, music, beauty, race, history; even with your sense of time and timing. If it does not fuck with you, it is not Hip Hop. Period.” Should you feel the desire to visit the exhibit to see for yourself though, entrance to the museum is free and the hours are 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. The National Portrait Gallery is also conveniently accessible by Metro at the Gallery Place/Chinatown stop.
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