To Be Real: Beads, Weave, and Curtains Be Art A Review of "Kori Newkirk: 1997-2007"

2004. "Younger." 228.6 x 243.8 cm. The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

I was seven or eight years old when my Aunt Joyce broke my tender head. She rattail-parted through my hair, tightly braided its strands, adding plastic gold pony beads to the bottoms. When I looked upon my bright yellow, almost white, scalp for the first time down to the ends of hair crowned with gold, I was awe-struck. Yes, there were friendship bracelet beads in my hair, and it was divine.

It was also art then, and so still believes Kori Newkirk, an artist on exhibit at the Studio Museum in Harlem through March 9, that it is art now. Newkirk is known for beaded curtains strung with braided synthetic hair hung along aluminum brackets. I didn’t look to see if he burned the ends. I imagine he did, though, since his choice media are practical, things like the beads and even hair grease, and burning is the practical way to keep synthetic hair braided.

The curtain installations range in size but bring to mind the expanse of bay windows, and as would a tapestry or an afghan, Newkirk’s beaded pointillism creates focused and detailed landscapes. In “Breaker,” one of the five curtains on display, a sky of clear beads to floor is interrupted by a two-dimensional tree standing tall in its middle. The leaves, stems, and trunk are hues so convincing I had to step closer to see that the beads were still manufactured, not painted to be different greens or browns.

The range of colors in the curtains struck me just as I had been as a child. To think that something so simple and so often cast as merely a cultural norm could support more than that Garvey-ism, “black is beautiful.” Newkirk’s work takes an every-childhood thing, pony beads, and manages them into scenes that are specifically human in experience. And that is more than divine. That’s real.


Exhibition and Museum Information:
Studio Museum of Harlem
http://www.studiomuseum.org/
144 West 125th Street New York, NY 10027
212.864.4500 phone

What else does the Studio Museum of Harlem have in store?
Exploring Kori Newkirk. Hands-on workshop.
http://www.harlemonestop.com/organization.php?id=3

And what about the man behind the beads? Check out this interview from Vibe.
http://www.vibe.com/juice07/2007/08/kori_newkirk_npg/