Tupac Meets Matisse; This Artist Is Using Beautiful Collages To Challenge Whiteness In The Art World
Elise R Peterson places black icons like Pam Grier and Grace Jones in front of classic works of fine art.
In Tupac Meets Matisse, Tupac has his glasses on with his shirt buttoned up. Most pictures of Tupac, he’s thug lifed out.
The black man is the most feared figure in America and I think the most powerful as well. That’s that’s why there have been so many institutionalized things set in place to disable him. I was terrified to work with a black male figure. The first one I worked with was Langston Hughes and it was before I was being intentional and now I think I’m being more intentional with the things that I’m creating. Tupac was the first man that I worked with that I felt this strong weight to do him justice. Sure, he can be “thug life” but we also know Tupac as a poet, activist, and a multi-faceted human being so I really wanted to do him justice in that way. In that collage, he looks so soft and so introspective. When I saw the photo, I knew. I have a very visceral reaction when I see things. I’ll feel it in my gut and it’s like, “That’s the photo I have to use.” I saw him and the Matisse piece together and how they fit so perfectly and it also shows a black man being cradled by a woman.
gracieabrams
origamiaround
discoholicmusic
snowghoul
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
