Steven Lopez

Above is last week's EW cover (featuring a portrait of Erykah Badu by Steven Lopez). Below is a letter we printed in this week's issue.

RACIST IMAGE

I was horrified by the cover of last week’s issue. Initially baffled that EW would publish such an openly racist image, I subsequently found myself wondering what sort of cocoon of self-congratulation, insouciance, or just plain ignorance one would have to be swaddled in not to recognize that that image of a black woman, her expression dominated by grotesquely exaggerated lips overshadowing the rest of her features, resonates with a painful history at least as old as minstrelsy, a history rife with white performers in blackface, ceramic statuettes of black folks featuring every exaggerated feature and stereotype in the book and triumphal postcards of lynched “coons” freely circulated in the U.S. mail (check out the book Without Sanctuary if you don’t believe the latter).

If any of this seems fuzzy, you could watch Bamboozled; Spike will break it down for you. Do you folks believe that we live in some sort of post-racist wonderland where we no longer need to be aware of our sad collective history, and to be vigilant lest that history reassert itself? Are you not aware that a scary number of Americans are making jokes that, if Obama is elected, we will no longer be able to call the presidential residence the White House, while others are absolutely convinced that he is a radical Muslim and closet “Islamofascist,” all evidence to the contrary be damned?

I’ve recently heard all these statements; haven’t you? Are you folks at the EW paying any attention to these issues at all? I’ve tried to write this without dissing the artist, whose work I would have otherwise felt free to ignore, but I have to wonder why you chose this particular artist, and this particular image, to “celebrate.” Shame.

Michael McDonald, Eugene

While I don't deny that these are important issues still relevant today, as proven by the candidacy of Barack Obama (as Mr. McDonald notes above), I also don't see how emphasizing the big, luscious lips of Erykah Badu "resonates with a painful history" of racism. Sexism, maybe (like an artist augmenting Angelina Jolie's breast size in a movie poster). But the thing is: Badu has big, bold lips.

If we'd run the above image on the cover, would that have been racist? Imagine if Lopez painted this same portrait, only using Angelina Jolie, would Mr. McDonald object to that, too?

Another point Mr. McDonald brings up is that the image evokes blackface minstrel shows (a popular subject for anyone who's ever taken an American Literature class in college). Again, I'm just not seeing that in Lopez's painting, where he paints Badu's face in the warm, yellowy light of a nightclub stage rigging. Generally blackface performers apply dark resin makeup to truly make their face blacker, along with bright red lipstick. Initially white performers did this, but soon black performers applied the stereotype to themselves (whether they co-opted the stereotype or were victims of its own pitiful success is still being debated in academia).

Mr. McDonald refers to those who "joke" about renaming the White House. Apparently those jokes came from a Republican state convention in Texas, where these buttons were for sale:

Besides making those who wear such buttons look like racist imbeciles, it's hard to take such right-wing buffoonery seriously, but Mr. McDonald sure does.

I close this blog entry with a citation of the film, Ghost World, where the main character, a high schooler, reproduces an ad from earlier in the century that uses the blackface stereotype to sell chicken. The art work infuriates the white, middle-class yuppies in the film, but wins praises from the art teacher (pictured below) for daring to challenge the status quo. My only question to Mr. McDonald (and our lively blog audience) is: Should EW censor such potentially disturbing images out of sensitivity, or should we put these images out there for people, like Mr. McDonald, to react to with personal embarrassment?

I know Suzi will at least weigh in here to correct my blundering thoughts. :)

Lane Arts Council's executive director, Douglas Beauchamp, emailed me to clarify some of the information provided in our cover story on former Eugene muralist Steven Lopez. Here's his message:

Lane Arts Council is always appreciative when its name is mentioned in an art discussion. And, like you, we value accuracy.

For that reason we hope to clarify your question to Steven which suggests some fuzziness around details: "Although you certainly jumped through hoops to secure funding through the Lane Arts Council for the ArtWall in downtown Eugene (in the alley between 10th and Broadway, off Willamette)... "

In 2000, Steven was one of five painters contracted by Lane Arts Council to serve as lead artists to act as mentors (and artists) in its 8-month long ArtWall project. Steven was thoroughly encouraged, supported, and recognized by Lane Arts Council throughout this endeavor.

During the ArtWall project the five paid artists and dozens of teens completed 10 projects and murals. All were collaborations, some temporary, some intended to be more permanent (like the one you refer to in your question), and one was a "free" wall. (FYI, ArtWall was made possible by funding from the City of Eugene.)

Also, you state: "Lopez’s murals stand out — like his homage to Japanese wood-block prints on the side of the Rest EZ Mattress Factory on West 7th."

Indeed, this mural was an ArtWall project commission painted by three artists: Kauz, Task, and Frustr8 (Steven Lopez).

By the way, Lane Arts Council is glad to be helping with funding for the mural installation Steven will paint inside Fenario Gallery next month as part of his exhibit.

We enjoyed seeing this wonderful display of Steven Lopez's work In Eugene Weekly and look forward to his visit.

Thanks for the additional info, Douglas.

If you like the artwork you see on the cover of this week's Eugene Weekly (8/7/08), then you might be interested to see it created using time-lapse photography. The painting's creator, Steven Lopez (whom I profile in this week's issue), paints these images of R&B and soul singers as part of his After Midnight series of paintings. Lopez says he paints these in the pre-dawn hours (hence: after midnight) all in one go. This allows him to set up his video camera and take the time-lapse videos you can watch below, all of which are set to music by the artists he paints. Watch more videos and see other examples of Lopez's work at his website/blog, I Keep Moving. And be sure to check out his solo exhibition at the Fenario Gallery, opening on Sept. 5 and running through Sept. 28.

Jill Scott- Hate On Me from ikeepmoving.com on Vimeo.

Erykah Badu- Amerykahn Promise from ikeepmoving.com on Vimeo.