WE STILL LOVING: TYPE EDITION
WE LOVE: TYPE EDITION
We have been pretty enamored by the powerful work of Tré Seals over at Vocal Type Co. Often in design, the biases of the author are ever-present in the final outcome. This is a very blind sided design flaw that can result in (intentional and unintentional exclusion) underrepresentation. The industry of design and specifically typography is maaaad white manish. This is resulting in a momo perspective in letter organization and presentation. Vocal type is filling the Gap and giving is life This foundry has released retail typefaces and created custom type inspired by historical icons of color.
We love all of this and it resonates with some of the latest projects we have been working on. We just wrapped up some custom lettering for Machel Montano’s Machel Monday. Which happens to be today and also happens to be a celebration of his nuptials. yo! It is seriously a love fest over here. Our work is used in the flyers promotional video as well as the tickets. We loved having the opportunity to work on this. Ya’ll over at Hasely stadium, buss a wine for us.
WE LOVE
WE LOVE
The other day our homie Kendra from ‘I wanna hear pod’ put us on to Curbed’s, Nice Try Utopia podcast. Of course, we were all over it. World-building and reimagining the past and future is so our thing. The first episode is about Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America. The podcast goes on to debunk the romantic version of this story told in our history books as well as a contextual of the ‘why’s and how’s’. The one thing that really stood out to me was the part in which these colonizers just lose the fuck out of their humanity. They are starving they start slaughtering indigenous folks and eventually start burning down their own fort for firewood and digging up corpses and eating them. Right when they are about to leave, the company that commissioned the mission demands they stay, sends a whole bunch more Englishmen, kidnapped some folks from Angola, forced slavery and thus America. Honestly, you have to listen to this podcast, this is just a lil summary. They go in. Anyhoot, that stayed with me because origin stories have weight and in this case, if the folks who ‘settled’ America were so far gone to begin with, one could only imagine what 400 years later would look like. I mean these dudes were bat shit crazy. They needed to be getting hugs a warm meal and some trauma therapy so they could stop terrorizing the indigenous folks and get they minds rights. Nope, that didn’t happen, they just ate folks and started a nation instead.
Soooooo that got is thinking about the impact of simply loving up on each other. Like for real love, not ownership, or possessiveness. The type of love that sees oneself in another. That’s open to listening and understands how to support and be an advocate. I know, I know it sounds mad mushy, well it is, the point is to feel good. Full belly full heart etc. So we decided that we are gonna share with you things/situations we love. Cuz it’s February and those lil naked violent flying babies want us to spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way and we’re like Oprah, we love a lot and we have stellar taste. After all, our thots matter.
A couple of our members had the honor of creating an engagement video for J Mandela and Shea. We took a lil road trip, upstate, encountered some racism, loved up on some plants and highlighted the love between these two. We love the way it came out and are super duper happy about this wedding.
We love Millennium Skate rink in Camden NY, I almost don’t want to share my love of this place because I’m afraid y’all might blow it up and all its charms will be lost. So, this is what we love about it. It’s black-owned meaning that the music and vibe are centric to the black community…you won’t hear any pop music even on kids skate sessions. It’s black on black on black. It’s reasonably priced and we get our souls on the rink.
We got portraits taken. We are so fly. We love us. Here’s the back story on this masked bandit crew shot. Folks keep asking us about biopics and we tell ’em we are anonymous…and they are like ‘oh ok, can I get a bio pic?’ Le sigh, basically we really value IRL connections and feel that it is an honor and privilege to connect in the real world. As far as internet presence goes, we appreciate the interest, but we don’t know you bruh, just ‘like’ the work, vibe with us or keep it moving. Our likeness representation is not intended for content. We take our art real seriously and will not be tokenized of sexualized while doing it unless we initiate that.
We are full of love so we’ll continue to sprinkle some love posts throughout the thots.
YOU MAY SHOP NOW
We are constantly evaluating and exploring our relationship with commerce and capitalism and looking for alternative opportunities of exchange. some of this exploration has been why it’s been so long coming to getting an online store up.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what we as a society are looking for on the internet, and what we can’t we purchase or have a hard time obtaining and what we should be trying to obtain. That thot process leads me to the creation of these new cans. For me, the internet is another platform, another medium, and it’s a context in which to explore the relationship of people, their interactions and the way that we interact with the world.
We love solutions, we love the absurdity of old ads (and full disclosure can’t wait until our current ads become old these pharmaceutical commercials are out of control). we are very much so American (most apparent when we are out of the country but that’s a different post) and so inherently, we are obsessed with the notion of a very quick fix. We also love painting and have a ton of empty cans in the studio. It’s bad enough that were spraying all this aerosol into the world might as well make sure that we are upcycling.
Thus I present to you my latest collection intended for the internet.
This series wouldn’t be complete without having some type of real life experience and so we have made a quarter of each edition available on the streets. They will be done in the form of a scavenger hunt and/or We’ll be posting where these items are and they will be free and up for grabs.
Keep your eyes peeled and your ear to the streets.
If you aren’t all about running around these streets (which I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be) you can also purchase editions on HERE
NOVEMBER 15TH
NOVEMBER 15TH HOLD THE DATE
What you up to on Friday, November 15th?
Well, you will be hanging with me at the ‘Dope Ever Since’ event in NYC.
I am super duper excited to announce my newest latest pop-up exhibition. It is taking place at a SECRET Chintatown location on November 15th between 7 p.m. 12a.m. One of the main agendas of Mz.Icar is to create and participate in engaging ‘real life’ experiences. Thanks to the movers and shakers at Lost Art BK, we have been able to team up with some musicians and creatives to do just that.
This night promises to be a fun exhibition, with live music performances. Space is extremely limited if you plan on coming please RSVP there is a tight capacity…you have been warned. The event is free with RSVP and if space permits, there may be a fee at the door.
In other news of growth and expansion, I have started to figure out my relationship with commerce and I and will have art for sale at this exhibition. and wait there’s more, I will launch the long-awaited Mz. Icar webstore on Nov. 15th. If you have any specific pieces in mind please get at me to make arrangements for purchase. Hope to see you soon.
PRESS RELEASE:
For one special night in NYC, LABK brings you “Dope Ever Since,” the live music/art installation event for all tastemakers & connoisseurs of everything dope, fly & fresh.
D.E.S brings together a tribe of artists, aligned on the same vibration of creating original artistic works for the mass appeal. In collaboration with the uber talented visual artist, Mz. Icar (@mz.icar), the space will be set for embracing the night & inhaling the moment. It’s going to be a jam packed night with DJ Tough Dumplin behind the wheels steering the ship. D.E.S will feature live music performances from two of illest hip hop acts out of Brooklyn right now: Bedstuy’s favorite brothers – DJ Jahmedicine & O-Boogie will set the tone for the night. And the following set will elevate the moment featuring the emcee: Rashid Amir, guest starring legendary producer- Ski Beatz as the conductor.
SPARK
SPARK...THEN SHOOT
My latest endeavor has been on love, joy, beauty, elation and inner peace. Its thrown a wrench in my process of using old imagery to collage and reconstruct ideologies. That being said, this new theme has forced me to create new works from the ground up. I realize that in this day and time there just aren’t many fabulous images of black people being joyous and peaceful. Now my mission is to create that.
As a collective, We take image making very seriously. Our talents range the professional art fields of photography videography, advertising, marketing, street and fine art.
One of the things that continue to emerge is the changing industry, how creators such as producers and art directors are either getting laid off or lost in the shuffle. Companies are looking to do things more efficiently to save money. We know that cutting the organizers doesn’t necessarily save money. We see how shoots run over time, how the industry wants more complicated content, and the day is only so long. Basically, the shoots are too cumbersome for the lack of direction.
We sat down, we bitched about how shoots used to be more fun, smoother and just had a better direction. Although it seems we can technologically do more, and the capabilities are endless we’re getting really confuzzled about how to go about it. We feel as though things are in flux to meet the demands of social media, the demand for more. It’s stressing us out. Luckily, we’re not the types to sit, complain, fart and scratch our butts all day. We decided to plan a shoot and basically remind ourselves what we’re working with. How super we are. That we have the answers to trifle with a demanding industry that wants more.
We had a creative direction in mind and got our main Mz. behind the camera. The goal was to optimize logistics for the shoot to be seamless, timely and fun. And we did it! Their is minimal retouching because Ediomi and Kat are fly to begin with.
Hope you enjoy. We did this completely in house all in a day, cuz we had to flex on them.
SOCA UNIVERSE
SOCA UNIVERSE SPECIAL PROJECT
Throughout my creative career there’s always been a synergy between the visual work that I make and music. I’ve noticed that I consider my process similar to a hip hop producer or composer in general. Sourcing or creating imagery to be used for collage is in the vein of sampling an break beat. The thing they have in common is that they are a deliberate breaking down in order to reconstruct. Visual reconstruction is my jam. Every story has multiple perspectives and I feel like the medium of collage and deconstructing and reconstructing is the most immediate recognition that the author is giving you a perspective, it is in itself a medium that recognizes that there are various views, layers and ways to tell a story. I’m always dealing with pieces of imagery and putting them together. That seems to be the one common thread and everything that I do.
The energy of process seems to attract musicians. I’ve had the opportunity of my career to work with amazing musicians in all walks of life. This latest projects is really close to my heart. Machel Montano is pretty much the king of current-day soca and creative cover art for Soca Universe’s Vol 1 compilation is huge. Soca music and Calypso was an integral part of my upbringing. My mom’s side is from Belize, Central America and soca is King. Growing up in southern California it was very much so marginal music, but the sounds blaring from my grandmother’s house and every family gathering told a completely different story. I often crack jokes and call soca the techno or House of Caribbean music as it requires some serious stamina.
Oftentimes the iconography of our culture is created by an external entity. This project gave me the opportunity to be in the front of center of creating and example or option or celebration and how we see ourselves. I shot the image used at Trinidad’s carnival a few years back and when Machel’s camp approached me to do this project I was elated to do something that felt so close to home and pull some of the archival footage from that journey.
MS. LAURYN HILL SPECIAL PROJECT
MS. LAURYN HILL
I spent a good chunk of early this year and last year working on visuals for Miss Lauryn Hill’s 20th anniversary Miseducation World Tour. It was a life-changing experience to be able to work with such an iconic creative and one that has inspired me so much. It is a real honor and I am so grateful for the opportunity. Some of the images and things are still in the work so we can’t share it all but here’s a sneak peek of some of the things that we have been working on including graphics and designs for afrochella and merch for various pop up throughout the tour we were also very honored to be able to showcase our work in her curated digital exhibition across the world.
"farewell to meat" CARIBANA 2019
"FAREWELL TO MEAT" (UPDATED)
Hiya peeps!!
Catch me this Sunday working on a live large canvas piece in celebration of Toronto’s Caribana 2019.
Did you know that the Latin derived name of the holiday ‘carnaval’ means “farewell to meat” I will be exploring this theme in terms of the objectification of black bodies and farewell to that notion.
Catch me this Sunday, Aug 4th, 2019 at
Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto, ON M5J 2G8
Many thanks to @harbourfrontcentre
And @supafrik fo inviting me out.
See ya soon t-dot peeps
And @toughdumplin will def be around.
Update. Here’s the final piece
REMIXED!
REMIXED
I love museums but I really have to be in the mood to go. It’s so hard to go into these institutions that basically have erased your whole existence, or minimize it ie: minimal inclusion for tokenism. That’s why I tend to go on the pay what you wish for the free days. I figure they have enough rich people upholding the racist ideas of the institution. I’ll just mosey on in and go for free because I feel like my people have paid enough, be it inspiration or sheer labor or continuing to be ‘the help’.
It’s interesting, as I walk through this whole exhibition all I see is the designer’s access, access to money, access to materials, access to audience, and access to media. I wish I didn’t recognize one third to half of the designers, but access seems to buy you a piece of the audience whether they like it or not. This access is so cloudy that it’s hard to tell if this work is amazing, or if it just had so much access that it is revered. The recognition of the designers, itself just gives the whole exhibition more gravity than I’d like to.
I’ll always be inspired by color texture pattern so it goes without saying that this exhibition is inspiring but I can’t help but feel that something is missing…oh yeah, designers of color.
Ironically the exhibitions is guarded by docile looking black people dressed up like butlers.
Side note funny story. I once went out one night in Philadelphia wearing these exact shoes only to be turned away by the doorman saying that women had to wear heels and I was out of dress code. Ironic to see these exact same shoes in an exhibition in the Philadelphia Museum of art. I guess it all depends on who’s wearing them.
The gatekeepers of history and culture seem to have those little blinders on like a horses that you see carrying people around in New York on little wagons. With blinders, one has such a limited view and the casualties of the limitations include all the people that helped inspire influence and push these fashions and art. Sometimes it feels as if they are purposely placing invisibility to all these other people that exist.
Don’t worry I won’t leave you hanging. Here’s a few notable fashion related pieces that highlight the participation and role of Black culture in fashion. The Nod did an amazing episode on the Battle of Versaille, called ‘Chitlins at Bergdorfs.’ In 2015 Sacha Jenkins directed a pretty cool doc called ‘Fresh Dressed’ that focuses on urban fashion and its role in main stream. The Mz. Icar team and I decided to remix this exhibition because we will pull up a seat at any table we want to.
Collage/ Illustration by Mz .Icar
photos courtesy of @jendayiasha, c.kennebrew and Junkprints archive// Select shoot Production by: @ediomi @efikokostudios // makeup: @_brittanyrogers // hair: @tierras_hair_artistry // accessories: @statement92
models: @mariosimonee, @annett_ka26, @sheshe_themodel
ARMOUR
ARMOUR
We stayed cultured, but we also stay maaaad suspect (insert raised eyebrow). Here are some notes from a recent trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The concept of armour is such a ‘white man’ ideology. Obviously all of these armoured gear were made in Europe. The whole idea of being so heavy and covered with limited agility limited vision and limited dexterity in order to combat an enemy seems utterly stupid. All your opponent needs to do is set you on fire and you’ll immediately burn up/melt in your armour, or they could just run around you in circles because there’s no way that you could possibly defeat anybody running around you in circles. It almost seems as if it’s the whole idea is to be so far away from the problem vs facing it honestly truthfully and with humility.
Ya’ll know how we love solutions and alternative methods so here is a list of alternatives to armour.
- Play dead, when your enemy arrives everyone just drop to the floor like the fiercest death drop ever.
- Chant.
- smile and extent a hand…genuinely.
- if your enemy arrived in armour, just gong them in the head, or do that harlem shake thing that they do in basketball that breaks ankles.
*Since we are talking about European ‘armour’ figured we use that extra ‘u’ in the spelling. The Queen’s English seems to think o’s are lonely. Guess it’s our version of putting some respect on it.
