Recognize!: Hip Hop gets (some of) its due

Photo of exhibit book, courtest of Mary Kearns

The National Portrait Gallery exhibit Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture combines painting, photos, graffiti and the poetry of Nikki Giovanni.

 (Speaking of Nikki Giovanni...Jennifer Nelson will interview Ms. Giovanni at the gallery on October 7, 2008, at 7 p.m.).

It sounds like a lot, but they managed to put it together so it makes sense and it does not take a long time to go through the exhibit.

Some of the paintings (done by Kehinde Wiley) were commissioned for VH1's Hip Hop Honors show and I have to say the paintings are what impressed me most. I was glad to see them being "re-purposed" and displayed in a venue like the Smithsonian. Rap artists were depicted in grand portraits that drew inspiration from older artwork. Ice T was shown in a pose similar to one that Napoleon struck in a portrait and LL Cool J chose to be portrayed in a style taken from a painting of Rockefeller. The painter gave the artists their own crests.

I've heard some grumblings about the propriety of including an exhibit showing rap artists at the National Portrait Gallery, and that is to be expected. On the other hand, one woman I know admitted that she avoided the Portrait Gallery because it seemed like it would be boring, but she was convinced to go after the museum let Stephen Colbert display his portrait there.

To stay alive and keep going, museums have to make an effort to attract new audiences. The Stephen Colbert portrait brought in tons of irregular museum-goers. (I know because they were all crowding near the bathrooms (where Colbert's portrait was placed) with cell phone cameras trying to capture their museum moment with Colbert.) After being drawn in by Colbert or LL Cool J, someone who ordinarily wouldn't go to a museum may wander a little and find more to their liking.

If you're in DC, go see it! It is there until October 26, 2008 and the museum is at the Gallery Place/Chinatown metro stop. If you're not in DC, you'll find a link to the exhibit websites, so you can still check it out. If you're in DC and can't be bothered to go, then you too have my permission to visit the exhibit website.