And the Wisdom to Know the Difference By

…And the Wisdom to Know the Difference

By Larry W. Cook

B.A. in Photography, May 2012, Plattsburgh State University

A Thesis Submitted to

The Faculty of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Art January 31, 2013

Thesis directed by

Dean Kessmann Associate Professor of Photography Julia Brown Assistant Professor of Painting

Table of Contents

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………………...... iii

And the Wisdom to Know the Difference…………………………………………………….………1

References………………………………………………………………………………………………..…...... 12

Figures………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…..13

ii List of Figure

Page

1. Larry Cook, Maria, Ink Jet Print, 20x24 inches, 2010……………………..….………….12 2. Larry Cook, Untitled, Ink Jet Print, 6x7 inches, 2011……………………..….…………..12

3. Dara Birnbaum, Wonderwoman, Color Video, 05:50 minutes, 1978…………..…..13

4. Larry Cook, Picture Me Rollin’. Video, 01:43 minutes, 2012………………...………...14 5. Andy Warhol, Screen Test: Dennis Hooper, Video, 04:39 minutes, 1964…………15

6. Larry Cook, Deandre, Aujena, Douglas, Henry, Video, 13:00 minutes, 2012….....15 7. Larry Cook, M.L., Video Projection, 08:27 minutes, 2012………………………………..16

8. Larry Cook, All American, Tritych Ink Jet Prints, 40x40 inches each, 2012…...…17

iii

…And the Wisdom to Know the Difference

My MFA thesis exhibition, …And the Wisdom to Know the Difference, consists

of photographs and videos that address the issue of identity through the representation of the subject and the interpretations made by the viewer. This

combination of direct observation and subjectivity creates a space in which the

viewer can engage with the artwork, in fact, the work is activated by the presence of

the audience. The use of appropriation, documentation, and the directorial mode of

photography create an experience that provides insight into the representation of

contemporary black culture.

Beyond a reflection of contemporary black culture the work in my MFA

thesis exhibition functions as a self-portrait that exposes the maturation of myself as

a person and artist. This development is represented through the process by which

the work has been created and the framing of the content. Though the work

primarily engages black subjects the exhibition is not just about race; instead, it is

framed by race as it addresses other issues that transcend racial boundaries. In this thesis I will discuss my identity and the concepts that have influenced my work.

Photography has been the primary medium that I have employed in my

artistic practice as a graduate student at The George Washington University (GW).

In my first year as an MFA student I began to move away from making portrait photographs of single mothers, such as Maria [Fig.1], to appropriating family portraits gathered from stock images online to address the absence of the fathers in 1

these families. Collecting portraits of black families, that included mothers and

fathers, and then digitally removing the heads of the fathers [Fig.2], enabled me to more directly address the high percentage of African American households absent of fathers.

The appropriation strategies of re-phototgraphing and reediting used by artists such as Seth Price and Richard Prince have influenced my artwork. Prince re- photographed magazine ads, that featured the Marlboro Man, in order to question the ideal of American masculinity that the cigarette campaign represented.

However, Dara Birnbaum’s use of appropriation and her visual aesthetic had the

most influence on me. Birnbaum’s video piece, Wonder Woman [Fig.3] uses

appropriated imagery from the 1970’s television show. The video shows the

transformation of Diana Prince, -a seemingly ordinary secretary - into Wonder

Woman the comic hero. This repetition of the television production editing techniques, such as the inserts, wipes, and cross cuts, highlights the ideology of the television show; real becomes wonder in order to do good.1 This deconstruction of the Wonder Woman transformation inspired first piece in my show.2

My video piece, Picture Me Rollin’ [Fig.4] is a 01:43 minute loop of rappers in

a black Lamborghini performing a driving maneuver called ‘doughnuts’. A doughnut

is “the act of rotating the rear of the car around the front wheels continuously”.3 Te

1 Birnbaum, (2010) p.4

2 Birnbaum, (2010), p.2 3 Doughnuts (2003)

original video clip is from the 2000 music video Get Your Roll On by the rap group

Big Tymers, which I appropriated and re-edited. In the video the exotic car spins in

place with the doors open while the driver and passenger wave to the camera in

jubilation. In the background men are standing in front of a row of luxury cars, dancing and waving to the music. In Picture Me Rollin’ this is isolated and repeated so that the car is spinning indefinitely. Midway through my video, as the car continuously spins, a young boy drives across the screen in a lavish toy convertible with shiny rims.

The music from the Big Tymers’ video is removed and replaced by a ‘chopped and screwed’ version of Dr. King’s I Have A Dream speech. Chopped and screwed is

repeating the music by record scratching.4 These techniques were used in Picture

Me Rollin’ to recontextualize the speech with a reference to hip-hop music.

The juxtaposition of the audio and visual content creates an opportunity for

the viewer to ponder whether Dr. King’s dream has been fulfilled. The video

references the notion of materialistic gain as a measure of financial advancement in

the black community. Dr. King’s dream is about freedom and equality whereas the

American Dream is currently understood as homeownership and personal

fulfillment.5 Part of the American Dream is materialistic gain; however, there is

overlap between the two dreams in that personal fulfillment requires freedom. My

4 Chopped and Screwed History (2007)

5 Cullen (2003)

video suggests that the materialism glorified in hip-hop music has become the

American Dream for many and is being passed down to younger generations.

The process of making Picture Me Rollin’ allowed me to re-examine the influences of hip-hop on black culture. Hip Hop music has greatly impacted my life, especially during my youth when I idolized rappers in music videos. When I was young I turned to hip-hop culture to define the way I dressed, the way I talked, and the way I envisioned success. In college, as an undergraduate student, I began to study Dr. King from a more mature perspective. By seeing Dr. King as a role model, I began to question the influence of hip-hop culture on my sense of identity, which led me to listen to the music and watch the videos in drastically different ways.

The repetition in my video reflects this maturation as I ask the viewer to consider the visual content more critically. In repeating the video image of the spinning Lamborghini I am forcing myself, and the viewer to pay closer attention the actions taking place. The title Picture Me Rollin’ is taken from the title of a song from the album All Eyez On Me by the late rap artist Tupac, who debuted the LP after he was released from prison. Below is a verse from the song:

Picture me rollin in my 500 Benz I got no love for these niggaz, there's no need to be friends They got me under surveillance, that's what somebody be tellin Know there's dope bein sold, but I ain't the one sellin! Don't want to be another number I got a fuckin gang of weed to keep from goin under The federales wanna see me dead - niggaz put prices on my head Now I got two Rottwillers by me bed, I feed em lead Now I'm released, how will I live? Will God forgive me for all the dirt a nigga did, to feed kids? One life to live, it's so hard to be positive

when niggaz shootin at your crib Mama, I'm still thuggin, the world is a war zone My homies is inmates, and most of them dead wrong Full grown, finally a man, just scheamin on ways to put some green inside the palms of my empty hands Just picture me rollin Flossin a Benz n rims that isn't stolen My dreams is censored, my hopes are gone I'm like a fiend that finally sees when all the dope is gone My nerves is wrecked, heart beatin and my hands is swollen thinkin of the G's I'll be holdin, picture me rollin6

In this song Tupac is speaking to those who were against him while he was

incarcerated and is telling them that they should be envious of him now that he is

free and prosperous. The “500 benz” Tupac rhymes about in the beginning of the

verse is short for the Mercedes Benz 500 which is the flagship sedan of the luxury

car brand. By reflecting on his transition from prison to driving a luxury car, Tupac

depicts his American Dream. The spinning motion of the Lamborghini in Picture Me

Rollin’ reflects the cycle of this entirely materialistic notion of the American Dream

that is often perpetuated by the culture of Hip Hop music

The self-evaluation that began through the process of working on Picture Me

Rollin led me to confront other means of self-expression. The video piece Deandre,

Aujena, Douglas, Henry [Fig.6] is composed of video portraits of young black adults

with facial, neck, and head tattoos. This silent 13:00 minute video loop was

displayed on two opposing flat screens monitors, while the four subjects rotate

between each screen.

6 Shakur (1996)

In traveling back and forth from where I live in Maryland to GWU in

Washington, DC, I would regularly see black youth and adults with these extreme forms of tattoos. Even though I have tattoos, I continually found myself feeling disconnected from and intimidated by these people. I would shy away from eye contact, yet I was fascinated by the artwork that permanently marks their faces, necks, and heads. I wanted to know if I my reaction to them was a common one, so I confronted this fear by introducing myself to these individuals, and then asking if they would be willing to be participants in a series of video portraits.

Through my conversations with these individuals, I discovered that the fear I had was indeed a common reaction that they experienced from others in public spaces. Most of the individuals with these tattoos who I talked to stated that people were often too afraid to make eye contact, while others would stare in judgment as if questioning their decision to tattoo themselves in this manner.

Those who agreed to pose for a video portrait were asked to sit alone for 10 minutes in my studio while I recorded them. The only instructions they were given were to stare into the camera and consider it as their opportunity to stare back at those who had previously stared at them in judgment. This collaborative process

gave the subjects agency. Finally, I titled the piece after the sitters in order to make the portraits more personal.

After discovering Andy Warhol’s screen tests [Fig.5] I personally felt encouraged to continue this type of video art. Warhol became my main point of reference due to the effective way in which viewers become engaged with these video portraits. The minimalist aesthetic of Warhol’s short films was incorporated

into my videos to focus the viewer’s attention exclusively on the subjects.

Early in the process I had to make formal decisions about the lighting and

framing of Deandre, Aujena, Douglas, Henry. In addition to viewing Deandre, Aujena,

Douglas, and Henry as individuals, I envisioned them as human canvasses displaying

art. In an essay, From Cellblocks to Suburbia: Tattoos as Subculture Style, Commodity

and Self Expression, Erin Teffs states that “these marginal ideas of style are often picked up and adapted by America’s mainstream, materialistic culture and marketed as “cool” by corporations and other members of mainstream society for mass consumption.” Like other forms of art these subjects may be viewed as

commodities.7 After careful consideration I decided to utilize the aesthetic of

commercial photography, in particular, the stark white backdrop as seen in fashion

advertisements.

A confrontational space was created in the gallery for the final installation of

Deandre, Aujena, Douglas, Henry by mounting two flat screen monitors on opposite

walls in a narrow passage way. The monitors were ten feet apart and hung at eye level. In this configuration the gazes of both portraits sitters confronted the viewer

simultaneously. My desire was to create an activated space in which the viewer

would be compelled to make eye contact with the subjects.

In the absence of a viewer the subjects on each opposing monitor appear to stare at one another. It is important to note that the same four subjects are presented in rotation on each monitor. Therefore, there are times when the same person is displayed on both screens creating a mirror-like effect. This allows the

7 Teffs (2010)

subject to stare at him or herself in a manner of self-reflection.

The power of the gaze is also explored in the work M.L. [Fig. 7], which is a video portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King. This silent 08:27 minute video loop is re-

edited from archival news footage of Dr. King. He is sitting at a desk with his hands intertwined staring into the camera while being introduced. The video clip was

edited so that Dr. King appears to be staring into the camera indefinitely in silence.

The piece is presented in a dimly lit setting that enhances the experience of

staring in silence at the projected image of Dr. King. The grainy film stock of the

archival footage heightens the nostalgia embedded in this historical documentation,

which was edited so that Dr. King embodies a number of emotional states. He seems

to be annoyed, nervous, and even vulnerable; however, above all he appears human.

M.L. was projected on the gallery wall at 60 x 50 inches, so King’s gaze is magnified,

thus creating an intense experience between this iconic figure and the viewer.

The title M.L. refers to the nickname King was called by close family and

friends.8 This sets up a situation in which the viewer is able to engage Dr. King more

as a person rather than an icon. The silence adds an eerie and haunting element to

the video, which leaves the viewer to contemplate Dr. King’s presence amid the

absence of dialogue. This contemplation enables the viewer to focus on the

perceived emotional states of Dr. King reflected in the piece. By looping this

seemingly insignificant moment from a conference in which he spoke at length, M.L.

reveals qualities of Dr. King that the viewer may not be accustomed to seeing.

8 Early Moments in a man’s life (2004)

The silence in M.L. is very important, which is why I decided to keep the

audio of Picture Me Rollin’ controlled by adding headphones to the piece. My

decision in keeping the audio controlled in Picture Me Rollin’ was so that it would

not impact the viewing experience of the other pieces in the exhibition.

All American [Fig.8] brought my practice full circle, in that I returned to a

form of still portrait photography that I have previously employed. The large-scale triptych was composed of three 40 x 50 inch color photographs, which are individually framed and hung two inches apart. The viewer encounters the sets of images as one large, massive piece that stands nearly 4 feet high and 10 feet wide.

Displayed on the main gallery wall, All American was front and center and was the largest and most colorful piece in the show. The title of the show was stenciled on the adjacent wall.

In All American the viewer is engaged by portraits of three individual figures framed separately who represent a Bloods gang member, a Klu Klux Klansman, and a member of the Crips. The Blood, a young black male, is dressed in full gang attire, which consist of a red sweater, red Chuck Taylor sneakers, tan khakis pants, and a red bandana covering the lower half of his face. The Crip, also a young black male, is dressed in a blue sweater, blue Chuck Taylor sneakers, blue jeans, and a blue bandana covering the lower half of his face. The Klansman is draped in a white robe that reaches just below the knee and a white hood that covers his entire face revealing only his eyes. Above the heart of the Klansmen is the white supremacist symbol, the blood drop cross.

The contructing of the three gang members allows the viewer to make

connections between these groups, and then form their own narrative about the

piece. It is not clear within the photographs themselves if the subjects are authentic

or not; yet, depending on whether the viewer chooses to accept the images as fact or

fiction strongly influences their reading of the piece. Beyond the various ways in

which the viewer may situate these photographs between traditional documentary

practice and a more directorial mode, the piece also pointedly addresses black on

black violence and white on black violence.

Hate crimes and violence by organizations such as the Klu Klux Klan was

instrumental to the creation of the Black Panther Party.9 Many political gangs in Los

Angeles joined the Black Panther Party. When the party dissolved, some of these

gangs formed an alliance to continue the movement, which became known as the

Crips.10 As the Crips became more violent, fractions of the gang left and formed alliances with rivals, creating the Bloods11. This connection between the Klan, Black

Panther Party, and the gangs I found important and element of the work I wanted to

explore.

Alhough these historical elements were important to me, I anticipated that

the viewer would not necessarily make the same connections, which led me to the

title the piece All American. This title takes the work beyond the context of racism

and opens it up to enter into a broader cultural discourse. The artwork is not only

about the identity of gangs in the black community, it asks the viewer to think about

9 Sloan (2005)

10 Sloan (2005) 11 Sloan (2005) 10

a gang mentality prevalent throughout much of the history of the United States of

America. The red, white, and blue in the uniforms of the three gang members, like

the title of the piece, further complicates the viewer’s ability to come to a simple

understanding of the work.

My thesis exhibition achieved my ultimate goal, which was to reflect my internal

conflicts and my present ideas about representation in black culture, while inviting the viewer to consider these same. The work addresses American identity and its connection to history and pop culture. The artwork holds the attention of the viewer allowing them to consider my intent along with their own personal interpretations. Through video documentation, staged photographic approaches and the strategy of appropriation, the viewer is able to reflect upon these topics through the use of cultural icons. With this reflection the stage is set to further the public discussion around representation of Blacks and Black culture in today’s society.

References

Cullen, J. (2003). The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation Oxford: University Press Chopped and Screwed History. (2007) http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/chopped_screwed/index2.jhtml

Demos, T.J, (2010). Dara Birnbaum Technology/Transformation:Wonder Woman London: Afterall

Doughnuts. (2003). http://www.modernracer.com/tips/rwddoughnuts.html

Early Moments in a man’s life, (2004, January 24). St. Petersburgh Times HBO Films, & Sloan, C.S. (2005). Bastards of the Party. DVD. USA

Miller. (2009 June 16) Post-Black, Afro Surreal Blog, http://afrosurreal.blogspot.com/2009/06/post-black.html

Niebuhr, R. Serenity Pprayer, http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/serenity.html

Teffs, E, (2010). From Cellblocks to Suburbia: Tattoos as Subculture Style, Commodity and Self Expression. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Bryant University

Tupac Shakur. Picture Me Rollin. 1996. Interscope. Double Compact Disc

Larry Cook, Maria, Ink Jet Print, 20x24 inches, 2010

Larry Cook, Untitled, Ink Jet Print, 6x7 inches, 2011 13

Dara Birnbaum, Wonderwoman, Color Video, 05:50 minutes, 1978

Larry Cook, Installation View Picture Me Rollin’. Video, 01:43 minutes 2012

Andy Warhol, Screen Test: Dennis Hooper, Video, 04:39 minutes 1964

Larry Cook, Installation Deandre, Aujena, Douglas, Henry, Video, 13:00 minutes 2012

Larry Cook, Installation View, M.L., Video Projection, 08:27 minutes, 2012

Larry Cook, Installation All American, Triptych Ink Jet Prints, 40x40 inches each, 2012