Rashaad Newsome / MATRIX 161
First Solo Museum Exhibition to Include Video, Collage, and Wall Sculpture
Newsome Will Also Curate Companion Exhibition
of Works from the Wadsworth’s Historic Collections
HARTFORD, Conn., January xx, 2011– New York-based multidisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome, whose
thought-provoking work draws on material ranging from rap music, black youth, and pop culture to medieval
heraldry, the Renaissance, and early modern architecture, will have his first solo museum exhibition at the
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. The exhibition will feature two video works and a large selection of
Newsome’s collages and wall sculptures that take the forms of coats-of-arms constructed of contemporary
status symbols including “bling” jewelry and designer hip-hop fashion belonging to rap royalty.
Incorporating video, performance, sculpture, and collage, Newsome’s work combines elements of high and
low art in an effort to level the social and political playing field. Part of the Wadsworth’s ongoing MATRIX
contemporary art series, the exhibition will be on view from February 3 through May 1, 2011.
Newsome collaborated on a related exhibition in the museum’s Connections Gallery that will juxtapose his
collage and wall sculptures with objects from the Wadsworth’s collection that contain coats-of-arms—
including British and American silver, Bavarian glass, and Italian ceramics. The pairing of Newsome’s
works alongside these historic objects will encourage audiences to view them through the lens of
contemporary society.
“Newsome’s work unites the classical and popular, equalizing the two in a seamless composition,” said
Patricia Hickson, the museum’s Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art.
“The Wadsworth
Atheneum’s outstanding collection serves as an ideal context for his provocative work, creating a second
layer of dialogue between the historic and contemporary.”
The exhibitions will feature twelve of Newsome’s collages and wall sculptures as well as two video works.
The first video space will feature three works from Newsome’s “Shade Compositions” series—including two
screen tests and one performance that features twenty women choreographed “throwing shade,” a nonverbal sound and gesture-based form of communication that originated in the African American community.
The second video space will show the first two completed parts of “The Conductor,” which is based on the
musical masterpiece Carmina Burana that has been accentuated with hip-hop beats and illustrated with
montages appropriated from popular rap and hip-hop videos. The expressive movements of the hip-hop
artists keep time with the cantata to create a fusion of classical music and contemporary pop culture.
About MATRIX
The Wadsworth was the first to embrace the idea of contemporary art in an encyclopedic museum through
its MATRIX program, which began in 1975 as a series of single-artist exhibitions that have showcased more
than 150 artists, providing many with their first solo museum exhibition in the United States—including
Adrian Piper, Louise Lawler, Janine Antoni, and Dawoud Bey. Many MATRIX artists, such as Sol LeWitt,
Willem de Kooning, Christo, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Gerhard Richter, are now considered
seminal figures in contemporary art.
“The new MATRIX series brings an exciting roster of emerging artists to the Wadsworth, and allows us to
present work that is distinctive and new, yet still strongly influenced by the history of art,” said Susan
Talbott, Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum. “As the series progresses I am excited to see how each
artist builds on the tradition of past MATRIX artists who have been inspired by the Wadsworth’s long history
of engaging with contemporary art, dating back to the museum’s inception in the 1840s.”
About Rashaad Newsome
New York based artist Rashaad Newsome is a self-labeled “composer.” Newsome moves beyond the
typical music-making associations with the word and instead uses video, performance, sculpture,
photography, drawing and paper collage to create new art forms. Newsome was included in the 2010
Whitney Biennial and Greater New York, 2010, at MoMA PS1, New York.
About the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is located at 600 Main St. in Hartford, Connecticut. The Museum
is open Wednesdays to Fridays, 11 am to 5 pm and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm. For more
information, please visit www.wadsworthatheneum.org.
Contact:
Kimberly Reynolds
Director of Communications
860-838-4055
Kimberly.reynolds@wadsworthatheneum.org
Molly Kurzius
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
212-671-5163
mkurzius@resnicowschroeder.com