BLING BLASIAN BLING
iona rozeal brown and Stella Lai
curated by Darryl Smith/Laurie lazer
“Bling BlAsian Bling” featureswork that incorporates traditional African American and Asian elements, forms and techniques to comment upon and explore socio-cultural and socio-political contemporary issues.
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- BlingBlasianBling wall text for show painted by Ricardo Richey
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- iona rozeal brown a3blackface #71 38" x 50" acrylic on paper
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- iona rozeal brown a3 blackface #73 38" x 50" acrylic on paper
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- iona rozeal brown in luggage store work in progress
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- iona rozeal brown a3 blackface acrylic on paper 38" x 50"
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- iona rozeal brown a3 #17 w.o.i.m.s. acrylic on paper 38" x 50"
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- iona rozeal brown a3 #16 w.o.i.m.s. acrylic on paper 38" x 50"
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- \\\"Beautiful White,\\\" detail, collaboration iona rozeal brown with Stella Lai, acrylic on wall,
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- \\\"Beautiful White,\\\" overview, iona rozeal brown in collaboration with Stella Lai, acrylic on wall, 2004
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- iona rozeal brown/stella lai collaboration Untitled video
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- Stella Lai \"Beautiful White" detail
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- View in gallery of \"Beautiful White\"
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- Stella Lai Beautiful White acrylic on wall
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- \"Beautiful White\"
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- Lose Weight, Bigger Boobs, Whiter Skin 02,
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- Stella Lai Lose Weight, Bigger Boobs, Whiter Skin 01
iona rozeal brown
Brown’s paintings portray anonymous courtesans, geisha, and Japanese gangura in blackface.Browns work addresses the global influence of hip-hop, commercialism, appropriation and African-American culture as fetish.
Herw.o.i.m.s., (worms) are an acronym for Weapons of Mass Spending.The woims are armed only with a mouthful of rotting teeth, an occasional gold cap, as they greedily feast on all manner of material culture, particularly the trendy accessories of hip-hop.
For brown, the unbridled impulse to devour everything from “bling bling” to Burberry not only represents thewholesale appropriation of hip-hop culture by the Ganguro, but also the voracious nature of consumer culture in general.
Brown was born in Washington, D.C., where she is based today. She earned an MFA from Yale University and has since exhibited at UCLA’s Hammer Museum; Spelman CollegeMuseum of Fine Art, Atlanta; and New Image Art, Los Angeles.
Stella Lai
Lai works with three girl characters wearing animal masks a rabbit, a bear and a cat.The characters were inspired by The Monkey King story, where human characters adopt animal traits.Lais characters retrace childhood memories and explore issues of sexuality, isolation and vengeance.
Lais work is informed and influenced by graphic design and typography.Referencing her native Hong Kongs chaotic urban landscape, Lai makes comparisons to several urban centers in the U.S. SFs Chinatown and LAs Chinatown.
Lai also incorporates traditional Chinese painting and floral elements in her work. Lai is represented by The Lizbeth Oliveria Gallery in San Francisco and has shown previously at the Luggage Store, New Langton Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in San Jose.
