Kumasi J. Barnett on Platform
Kumasi J. Barnett on Platform
Lowell Ryan Projects is excited to announce that four new works by Kumasi J. Barnett are currently being featured on David Zwirner's Platform for the month of February.
For more information on the available works for purchase directly through Platform please click: HERE
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 | | Kumasi J Barnett in his studio in Baltimore, MD |
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Q&A - Kumasi J. Barnett
1. How do you describe your practice generally, and what inspired the artworks of yours on Platform?
My practice is like breathing, it is the one thing I can always do. There is an instinctive element, almost like a call and response in the way I work.
The works I’m doing right now are less about a specific way of practice and more about revealing truths. So I think of them as taking fiction and turning them into real stories. Stripping away the false, so the real is revealed with as little alteration as possible.
2. If you could collect any one artist, who would it be?
If I could only collect one artist or series I would collect Monet’s large-scale water lilies because I’m a basic bitch. But, if we extend that out to a group of artists I would be collecting Sam Gilliam, Mark Rothko, Norman Lewis, and Richard Mayhew. I wrote my undergrad art history thesis on Norman Lewis and I am obsessed with the Spiral artists—specifically the painters. The idea that the best black artists of the time came together to create a show that was themed and completely different from their usual works and then split apart afterwards to continue making works in their individual style is insane. It’s like the entire color spectrum coming together at a single point like a prism and then splitting again on the opposite side. I’m waiting for someone to write both a definitive historical text and compile a catalogue raisonné on both Lewis and Mayhew.
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 | Kumasi J. Barnett
White Woman #134
Who is White?
2022
Acrylic, marker, pen and oil marker on comic book in clear plastic sleeve
10 1/4h x 6 3/4w in / 26.04h x 17.14w cm |
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3. What’s your first memory of being impacted by art?
I can’t remember the first time I was impacted by art. My mother was a designer and my brother and I drew early on. I was raised drawing. I thought it was something everyone did. When my father would take us to museums he would say, “you could do that.” I said the same thing when I first went to college. We were at the Baltimore Museum of Art with my first painting teacher. I said “meh, I could do that” dismissively about a Matisse blue cut-out silhouette, and she said “well then you’ll get an A.”
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 | Kumasi J. Barnett
America vs. America #61
The world’s greatest hypocrites are back
2022
Acrylic, marker, pen and oil marker on comic book in clear plastic sleeve
10 1/4h x 6 3/4w in / 26.04h x 17.14w cm |
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4. What song(s) do you have on repeat right now?
I have had one song on constantly for the last month. “Party in The CIA” by Weird Al Yankovic. It’s perfect. But I am constantly playing J Dilla’s instrumentals as a way to move through the world. It’s not so much just about listening, but also theme music. He is perhaps one of the best hip-hop producers of all time. Right at the top of the list with DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Swizz Beats, Prince Paul, and the Bomb Squad. We can fight about it.
5. Dream dinner guests, dead or alive?
Putting aside all the family members and loved ones who are passed away I would like to have a small dinner party with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and William Donald Schaefer. Schaefer was mayor of Baltimore during the 70s and 80s. He was responsible for the National Aquarium, The Harborplace, The Baltimore Convention Center, and Camden Yards. It might not have much meaning to people from outside of Baltimore, but it was and is probably the most impressive renaissance of a US urban center that I can think of. You should know the other two.
I would prefer them to be alive at the dinner.
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 | | Kumasi J Barnett working in his studio in Baltimore, MD |
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6. What charities or causes are close to your heart?
I enjoy mentoring. I think we stand on the shoulders of the people who came before us and it’s our responsibility to pass that knowledge to the next generation. So the causes I am most drawn to are those that directly help and impart knowledge to younger people like me.
7. How would you describe your personal style?
I don’t know that I have a personal style. I am starting to dress in a way that no one would remember what I’m wearing. This is all I can wear, the same thing over and over again.
I’ve also found that there is someone who looks like me that most people know in my extended social circle. This person seems to be generally a good person or a nice person, because when I meet people they seem to treat me as if they’ve known me in the past and just can’t remember from where.
I also really enjoy sweaters.
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 | Kumasi J. Barnett
American Comics #352
Billionaires…
2022
Acrylic, marker, pen and oil marker on comic book in clear plastic sleeve
10 1/4h x 7w inches / 26.04h x 17.78w cm |
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8. What are you obsessed with lately?
I’m obsessed with manga at the moment, and very specifically Isekai manga with incredibly long titles. The longer the better, for instance:
“Campfire cooking in another world with my absurd skill.“
“I was caught up in the hero summoning, but that world is at peace.“
9. What’s your motto, if you have one?
I have a few:
Leave things better than you found them.
If you don’t know what to do and things are going wrong, do nothing. (Sometimes you have to stop, think, and pay attention before you can fix anything. The first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging.)
“Find something you’re good at, stand on a table, and rub it in everybody’s face.” - Tony Kornheiser
10. If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
A mathematician. Accounting and physics are the two sides of math that always seemed like fun. It’s just crazy that there are different levels of infinity. Did you know you can multiply infinities and get a larger infinity?
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 | Kumasi J. Barnett
Amazing Black-Man #610
2022
Acrylic, marker, pen and oil marker on comic book in clear plastic sleeve
10 1/4h x 6 3/4w in / 26.04h x 17.14w cm |
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Influenced by the aesthetics and narratives of comic books, Kumasi J. Barnett’s work subverts and imbues the often-timeless genre with historical context and a present-day social consciousness. Barnett frequently paints directly over old copies of comic books, changing their narratives into reflections of real events and critiques of social and political issues, including police brutality, systemic racism, fake news, and our political system.
Kumasi J. Barnett (b. 1974, Baltimore, MD) received his MFA from The Ohio State University, and lives and works in Baltimore, MD. His works have been exhibited both in the United States and abroad, including exhibitions at Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; The Peale, Baltimore, MD; the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa; The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; The Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA; BravinLee programs, New York, NY; and The Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY. Barnett presented a solo booth with Lowell Ryan Projects at The Armory Show 2020, in the Focus section curated by Jamillah James. Barnett currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his work has been featured in Artforum, Ammo, Vibe, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, Autre, Artnet News, and The Guardian, among others.
For information on additional available works or Kumasi J. Barnett's practice, please click: HERE
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For more information please contact: info@lowellryanprojects.com |
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images courtesy of the artist and Lowell Ryan Projects
4619 West Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 6pm |
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