Steppin' Out

I’m about to take some loaded work to the middle of the country, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Viewers will walk into an energetic video space of interacting channels. Powerful images of protest, dominance, servitude and violence will be offered simultaneously. The piece depicts the dynamics of whiteness, racism and power, using blackface and performance as strategies.

I have absolutely no idea what kind of reactions I will receive. So many stereotypes: a New York artist, radical politics, the pretension of culture on one hand; a cultural desert on the other, with a lot of food.

It all boils down to this the question: Who do I think I’m making art for? A nebulous mass to be “educated”? A small like-minded community of other artists and art enthusiasts? Whoever will look at it, draw from it what they may? Just myself?

I go with the goal of learning a little about how art functions outside the studio. I go with the goal of seeing if I can communicate with folks outside my own world.