Fahamu Pecou expands upon his 2011 exhibition in Paris, Hard 2 Death, by utilizing his familiar trope of self-portraiture to challenge and dissect society's representation of black masculinity in popular culture today. The title, All Dat Glitters Ain't Goals, is an obvious play on the quote from William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, "all that glitters is not gold."
Extrapolating from a broad range of popular culture resources, Pecou sifts through rap music, hip-hop culture and mass media to provide a visual reference that exaggerates and calls into question the persona and "hype" that serves as a bar upon which an entire segment of today's society measures their worth. The "thug life" lifestyle encompassing exotic cars, "iced out" jewelry, sexy women, drugs and countless non-culpable accounts of criminal exploits litter the lyrics of popular songs and music videos, ultimately infecting the overall perception of "success" in contemporary black male culture.
Punctuating each painting in All Dat Glitters Ain't Goals is an original rap song written and performed by Fahamu Pecou, accompanied by Grammy Award winner rapper Killer Mike and Stic.Man of hip hop duo Dead Prez, and featuring several of Atlanta's most well-known rap artists and vocalists such as Ekundayo, Boog Brown, Clan Destined, Starchile and Mike Flo to name a few. The entire music project is produced by acclaimed producer Illastrate.
The entire collection of tracks will be streaming live in the gallery and available via QR codes. There is also a Limited Edition Collector's EP.
|
TRAVEL CALENDAR
