There are plenty of reasons to wonder about the relationship between magic and reality in New Orleans. It does seem to be infused with something, and it’s in the air and the water. One can’t spend even a small amount of time here before discovering that there’s something going on in town that is different than anything else in the world. One night in one of New Orleans cheap hotels is enough to convince anyone that this place might be worth sticking around in.
It seems to have a particularly special power when it comes to creative types. There are plenty of examples of local artists who go on to do interesting things elsewhere, as well as interesting artists who decide to come here to stay and make a home. But they all have some of that edge and energy of place wherever they go, even when the work is vastly different than anything else. This is the case with Rashaad Newsome , whose body of work is already bordering on the unclassifiable, rich in content and bold in form. It speaks of New Orleans in overt and subtle ways, capturing with a kind of silent power that his home city has, where it knows that it has your heart in its hand. It’s terribly exceptional, and is making interesting new directions in New York City.
He grew up here and went to Tisch, before moving to just a few years ago. His theme is culture, and it’s a vast one, but his work is capable of taking it on, and making it come alive in unexpected new directions. He works with cultural expressions, objects, languages, and combines them in non-verbal ways. It’s easier to see this in the sculptural works, like his coat of arms , which reinterpret European icons of power for a hiphop culture. It also works in other works, in other forms, in equally complicated ways.
It’s interesting to consider that a vocal performance could be non-verbal, but his Shade Compositions are certainly that. This is a remarkable skill, to be using sounds and words in a way that one isn’t distracted at all by trying to find meaning in the words. Something else comes to enter the space, and it’s an ethereal intelligence that suddenly guides the work, and we get to be part of the moment when spirits meet with the urban heart, and there is no contradiction.