Fahamu Pecou: blakPresidential
The blakPresidential Review:
Recently I haven’t been able to keep Fahamu Pecou’s series blakPresidential out of my mind. His paintings remind me of pieces of a complex cultural/political puzzle that I should put together.
It’s similar to how I view black America. Within a painting, he’s made a statement that I have been trying to figure out for some time. Many people chose to view black America as separate entity and I’ll say it: those people are wrong. Instead of viewing American culture as just black and white, maybe we should think about the entire construct of what it means to be American. When we take a look at what is deemed mainstream, we are still littered with negative imagery of African Americans. Some black girls appear to be whitewashed versions of real black girls and black boys look like they are in constant subliminal training to be a part of the federal judicial system.
Pecou on the other hand, has taken a look at our historical November 2008 election and created a body of work surrounding the image of an African American male at the center of the political universe. Something and someone that has never reached this far into our socio-political culture.
One thing that makes me a fan of his work is the fact that he has put his face as focal point of his paintings. The repetition of his portrait is a repetition of his FAHAMU PECOU IS THE SH*T! character. I then notice the scattered pieces of text and how they are little notes into his psyche. Lastly, I take a gander at the brushstrokes of the paintings represent how the identity development of the African-American is continually a work in progress. By using magazine covers as his theatrical stage I realize how little mainstream media puts an African-American male on the cover that isn’t involved in sports and entertainment solely. The influences behind his work stretch from Willem deKooning’s drippy and bold brushstrokes to Jean Michel Basquiat’s graffiti scribble notes to contemporary pop culture’s love affair with image and design, as seen in BlakMaybe. Stark, minimal design is Pecou’s platform for keeping black faces as the center element with his text surrounding his figures as accents to his conceptual idea. Like I always say, you can’t get past the mental constrictions of racism is you ain’t used to seeing a nigga’s face daily. Just his face. Now that we have a new hurdle to jump over, an African-American male making powerful decisions for the world’s most liberal country. How is our mainstream public going to handle that?
“Thinking through the process of media propaganda brought me to my current work with magazine covers. Playing on the public’s psychological reaction to magazines, and preconceived ideas about who should be in them, I began projecting my image and ideas on the covers of magazines.” – Fahamu Pecou, statement from his website.
Once upon a time in America before celebrity was a disease that affected us all, the image of black was something of struggling minorities fighting to find where they fit in a country that has used and abused them for centuries. Many were interested in figuring out how to better their lives by finding decent work to provide for the family. However, due to the liberal politics and color issues of the mid-1960s, another African-American stereotype was created and has flourished even stronger. If we were to become celebrated pimps and hustlers since the 1970s then eventually an equal had to arise. Enter blakPresidential. He has blakPresidential friends that look like him and his blakPresidential wife is featured by his side. He has comments on the Recession and is interested in fine art community. Elements that are similar to a normal American, right? The smaller details begin to uncover the celebration of a blakPresident such “Right On” in TheCode and the nationality questions that constantly bombard our current president in UnAmerican Idol. And of course blakPresidential and his negro cronies are great examples of people visually un-American because he is not the typical white, Christian all-American war-fighting male in his 40s.
No. BlakPresidential is a representation of America. He built America according to DuBois and where would America be without her Negro peoples?
Looking deeper into his works, one needs to be aware of the constant images that are slamblasted at black people daily. Yes, they are ones of sports and entertainment. Who’s doing a great job of play basketball or football? Who is selling the most rap records as ringtones? Look at the exotic, light-skinned girl over there! Keep away from the angry dark-skinned black girl! Blah blah blah. Back and forth we hear of this group of black people but never the ones that don’t lead those lives or are interested in living those lives. In Pecou’s work, he is trying his best to create a new image of the African-American, specifically male. His understanding of roots are of his that were created here in America. He is, after all, an American born artist. He may be used to positive stories of struggle and success. His idea of a black male could be one that is strong, intelligent and self-sufficient. To finally have the greatest success story in black history to happen has sparked a new definition of American to him. It creates a new aesthetic universe for Pecou to conquer and take for his own. I wish for him to stay on the same track of offering a powerful discussion on something that I believe we should strongly consider: redefining the image of the African-American. By political association, we as black people seem to be no longer on the books as a second class citizen. But if we constantly have imagery of us presented in a format that when observed are actions of second class citizens (obsessed with only money-making, highest consumers of materialistic goods such as shoes and jewelry and constant law offenders) then how can we move forward? How can we continue to grow without forgetting our roots? We look to our artists for solutions to our proverbial questions.
Fahamu Pecou gave you his in his painting, ArtOfficial, by having his portrait reflect that of American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the 1968 Olympics. They were good enough to represent America in the track and field competitions. They were great enough to win the gold and silver medal but when they wanted to represent how they had come to understand growing up in America, they were ordered to be suspended from the US team and were threatened with being banned from the Olympic village in Mexico City. At one moment, the whole world had one more example of the racial tension in America. That moment was exemplary in describing being black in America. If Pecou is at all facing any amount of protest or dislike for his work, then I fear only that his audience has missed his message of tolerance and celebration of living during a monumental time of US history.
For that understand, black history is US history. It’s just a shame that it has taken us this long to realize that the two are compliments of another and that they will always be connected to one another.
Fahamu Pecou, American Gothik, 2009
Fahamu Pecou, BlakMaybe, 2009
Fahamu Pecou, TheCode, 2009
Fahamu Pecou, ArtOfficialIntelligence, 2009
