The Dirty South; Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse uses contemporary Southern hip hop as a portal into the constellation of aesthetic tropes integrating creative expression across musical genres and artistic media to show the legacy and impact of Black expression on American culture. By tracing the roots and aesthetic leanings of hip hop, the exhibition explores the sonic and visual parallels that provide the foundation not only for today’s musical expression, but for contemporary art and music over the past century.
The Dirty South; Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse
Nari Ward (American, born Jamaica, 1963), Xquisite Liquorsoul, 2009, metal and neon sign, wood with artificial flowers, shoelaces, shoe tips. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Aldine S. Hartman Endowment Fund, Eric and Jeanette Lipman Fund, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment, 2019.283a-b. Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London
Minnie Evans (American, 1892-1987), Untitled, 1946-1968, pencil, ink, crayon, and oil on paperboard. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, purchased through funds provided by an anonymous donor to Collectors Evening 2011, 2011.4, Image © Estate of the artist
Fahamu Pecou (American, born 1975), Dobale to the Spirit, 2017, acrylic on canvas. Courtesy Fahamu Pecou, Image © Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Courtesy Studio KAWO/Fahamu Pecou Art
Rodney McMillian (American, born 1969), From Asterisks in Dockery, 2012, vinyl, thread, wood, paint, light bulb. Courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
RaMell Ross (American, born 1982), Caspera, 2019, Inkjet print, mounted on dibond Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, National Endowment for the Arts Fund for American Art. MC2020.56 Image: © RaMell Ross
2013
Founded in 2013 and launched in 2015 Common Field is a national network of independent visual arts organizations and organizers that connects, supports, and advocates for the artist-centered field.