Grime, Glitter, and Glass: The Body and the Sonic in Contemporary Black Art

In Grime, Glitter, and Glass, Nikki A. Greene examines how contemporary Black visual artists use sonic elements to refigure the formal and philosophical developments of Black art and culture. Focusing on the multimedia art of Renee Stout, Radcliffe Bailey, and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Greene traces the intersection of the visual's sonic possibilities with the Black body's physical, representational, and metaphorical use in art. She employs her concept of "visual aesthetic musicality" to interpret Black visual art by examining the musical genres of jazz and rap, along with the often-overlooked innovations of funk and rumba, within art historiography. From Bailey's use of multilayered surfaces of glitter, mud, and recycled materials to meditate on Sun Ra's Afrofuturism to Stout's life-size cast of her own body that recalls funk musician Betty Davis to Campos-Pons's performative and sculptural references to sugar that resonate with the legacy of Celia Cruz, Greene outlines how these artists use mediums such as molded glass sculptures, viscous wet plaster, and dazzling mannequin heads to enhance the manifestations of Black identity. By foregrounding the sonic elements of their work, Greene demonstrates that these artists use sound to make themselves legible, recognizable, and audible.

Author: Nikki A. Greene
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 10/01/2024
Series: Visual Arts of Africa and Its Diasporas
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9781478030577

About the Author
Nikki A. Greene is Associate Professor of Art History at Wellesley College.