There’s More to Political Artist Awol Erizku Than Beyonce’s Baby Bump Photos
Photos courtesy of Nina Johnson, Beyonce.com, Night Gallery, Diane Rosenstein
Before the Grammy’s this past Sunday, Beyoncé announced her second pregnancy (with twins) via Instagram. She later revealed several more photos, exposing more of the overgrown floral scene. It was quickly confirmed that the artist behind these photos was Awol Erizku.
Since the release of the baby announcement heard ‘round the world, Erizku has shied away from the spotlight preferring to let his work speak for itself. It’s the most liked photograph on Instagram, ever, so there isn’t much left to say. But the humble artist is so much more than just the photographer behind the Queen Bee’s exciting news. Awol Erizku’s long body of work is shocking, timely and deserving of the wide praise it’s receiving, especially in the face of the exclusionary political atmosphere swirling around the world.
Beyonce looked the ethereal part of Mother Earth, surrounded by flowers and greenery. In a behind-the-scenes candid shot released on her website, Beyonce.com, it appears she was sitting on top of an Awol Erizku sculptural Porche readymade that was installed last January at the artist’s solo exhibition Bad II The Bone at Night Gallery. At the time, the gallery said of his work:
Erizku’s colorful and tactile assemblages are formal investigations on this specific urban environment, and the interplay of socially-charged markings and climate that contribute to the look of the city. Growing up in the Bronx, Erizku lived in a housing complex overlooking a basketball court frequented by local gangs. Through that upbringing he developed a sensitivity to the social and political implications of markings found on the street, and a fascination with the intertwining of formal and political elements in visual culture. In his work, ingredients taken from street art, gang turf markings, and day-to-day urban life are combined to respond to current events, often subtly and satirically referencing art history.
The surfaces of Erizku’s paintings are built up with casually-scrawled words and numbers, multiple layers of color, and “buffing”—the method of blocking out existing spray paint on the street. Creating layers of house paint and spray paint, Erizku references turf markings from his current neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles. He works at an architectural scale—the experience of viewing his paintings parallels an encounter with the side of a building that has been repeatedly re-painted. The recurring political motifs and assertive scale of Erizku’s work are underscored by the urgency of his titles. Say It Here, While It’s Safe and Black Americans Killed by Police in 2014 Outnumbered Those Who Died on 9/11 are two examples of how Erizku’s work seeks to catalyze social engagement and appeal directly to the viewer’s political awareness.
Erizku was born in Ethiopia, raised in the South Bronx, earning a Yale MFA via Cooper Union undergrad and working with photographers like David LaChapelle. Much like Beyonce herself, Erizku has embraced the power of his voice on social media. He cleverly operated his own Instagram account like gallery, keeping it private except for most standard gallery hours when it “opened to the public”. His recent art show at Nina Johnson gallery, I Was Going To Call It Your Name But You Didn’t Let Me, was a series of ubiquitous imagery, though slightly altered in each painting.
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