March 5, 2012

the art historian's mixtape

Last week, I read the article "Art Excavated from Battle Station Earth" in the Arts section of the Sunday New York Times. It details the re-emergence of  sculptural works by Rammellzee, a native New York artist who died in 2010. Rammellzee's work fuses language, the alphabet, sculptural assemblages, collage, outer space, science fiction, trash, costumes, and children's toys into a fantastical art-space/life. The article states that his obsessive art-life fusion puts Andy Warhol's to shame. Those who knew Rammellzee's real name never told.
My mom has a theory that an obsession with subject matter makes someone an artist. As she says, "One haystack is just a haystack, but many haystacks is Monet." If this is true, Rammellzee's life is art. For this week's track on the art historian's mixtape, I give you Rammellzee and K-Rob's "Beat Bop" from 1983. As an added art bonus, the cover for the album was designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

1 comment: