interview: pushing the envelope. and much needed beach fun – a look into pastiche lumumba’s world

Just coming off a freshly induced high from his first exhibition–Atlanta based curator and creator of art, Pastiche Lumumba, soaked up some sun down there in Miami at the premier art gathering. The shows display the crème de la crème of contemporary artists where Lumumba held his own.

Interview by Andrea Dwyer, AFROPUNK Contributor *

Q: You were just in Miami for the Art Basel. How was it?

A: It was a lot of fun.  Really good to see that aspect of contemporary art that’s younger, black, musicians, the whole tattoo culture…The artists there consciously pushed the ratchetness.

Q: Pushed the ratchetness? How so?

A: The artists were unapologetically black about their shit; especially the music that was played. Trap type music. They were playing ATL shit, drug stripper music; which is fun and I need that in my life.

Q: How long were you down there?

A: For five days (Dec 5-9th). I didn’t get any sleep… I went to the beach.  I actually got stung by a jellyfish, which wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.

Q: How did you get involved in being part of the show?

A: I had previously done a show “Atlanta Renaissance” at City of Ink. Corey, of Mach 5, really liked my receipt piece and we just went from there.

Q: Who else from Atlanta were down there?

A: A lot of tattoos artists mostly from City of Ink.

Q: Which of your pieces did you showcase?  

A: Just the two sweaters; “OPP No. 8 [Antitheft Sweatshirt].

That piece speaks to our fascination as a culture with consumerism.

A: Yea……

Q: Who were some standouts at the shows?

I really liked Cameron Gray. He does these amazing electronic installations; gifs of random stuff. It’s really just internet nonsense but really creative.

Q: Did you attend any music shows?

Yes but not a lot. I went to a few warehouse shows and I saw some local bands but I didn’t see the big shows. It’s all very exclusive; it’s for rich bitches. It was something like $100 for a table at the Kendrick Lamar show.

Q: Any bands worth mentioning?

A lot were hardcore, not something I listen to all the time. It was more about the space and hanging out.

Q: How was the reception of your latest show “A Retrospective”?

A: It’s been positive. A lot of people who attended had already seen my stuff at The Low Museum. I was disappointed that more of the institution people, like older people didn’t attend. My contemporaries came and understood the work but I want to bridge the gap. There’s a particular demographic who definitely understands what I’m communicating but I want reach a broader audience.

Q: What are you currently working on?

A: I plan on having an exhibition on white {su-pre-ma-ci-sm}.

Q: When will you put that out?

A: February 2014, the 10th to be exact. Black History Month. I’m still looking for people to collaborate with. I really like Nate Hill’s stuff right now. I especially like “Trophy scarves”.

I’m looking forward to that.

Q: Wanna tell the Afropunk folks anything else?

A: I feel 2014 is gonna be a great year. No place to go but up. Last year was terrible, this year was good and I’m hoping next year will be even better. Everything I’ve done people have already seen. It’s time to put out new stuff!

– Follow Pastiche Lumumba on Tumblr (http://pastichelumumba.tumblr.com/) and twitter (https://twitter.com/PasticheLumumba)

* Andrea Dwyer is a freelance writer based in Atlanta. She’s a writer at Superselected and you can follow her on Twitter @musingandrea.