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#NiggaWitAttentionForSale by Kelli Anthony

“Controversy is part of the nature of art and creativity.” -Yoko Ono

Chicago Native and artist Kelli Anthony presented viewers, friends, and family with quite the treat last night at the elee.mosynary gallery, in Pilsen. I don’t know if it was the collaboration of unique color blocks or wide range of resources used to create the images, but this exhibit is one of many that allowed the artist [KA] to utilize art mediums ready to be played with.

Elle Yoko [Ashley McGivens, pictured above] was one of three featured MUAs for the exhibit. Known for her use of bright colors and pastels, Ashley’s models came to life and set the tone for the #NWA theme.

My favorite shot: Hennessy Beach. Because, you know [black] girls love Hennessy. But really, this was honestly the first photo I was drawn to.

The concept of “Nigga Wit Attention for Sale” is to ‘experience Black Culture- on a high level.’ As if [we] aren’t already in the news enough, it is diversions like this that need to be happening more around the city. Looking around the gallery and overhearing so many conversations centered around unique professions in the creative industry and various inputs on the art on display is what needs to be publicized instead of a 50-person body count over a holiday weekend.

Pop culture icons including Biggie Smalls, The Simpsons, and characters from King of the Hill provided the exhibit with some light humor, and somewhat forced attendees to view these caricatures and place them in real-life settings, or, the confines of this awesome gallery.

One of my favorite components of the exhibit was The Ashley Club (models: Ellie Flores, Leiah Maree & Kiara C). Talk about valid to today’s self-absorbed, Instagram-obsessed, the-only-validation-I-need-is-Likes...girl(s).

Of course the first thing that came to mind was The Ashley’s from one of the most politically-correct cartoons to bless my screen- Recess (ABC’s One Saturday Morning). For these girls to have been so young on TV, they were the epitome of Bitches- before Instagram or Mean Girls became a thing.

Kelli’s displays focused tremendously on attention to detail while he utilized his editing skills, with a great deal of complexity. Art has changed over the years due to technological gains and society being more open to using various creative outlets (i.e. acrylic painting, watercolor, digital illustration & photography, VSCO editing, stencil/sketching, and more). At this exhibit, we were blessed with a combination of storytelling, props, and controversial concepts.

Strategically placed, the back of the gallery were some very, very controversial messages and imagery. For instance, seeing the same color of milk pouring from a [black] woman’s breasts into two separate gallons- labeled as “colored” and “whites”, with a dollar bill underneath labeled as “Oprah Winfrey”...go ahead, let it marinate. Next to this was “Boyz N Da Hood: Sega Genesis”, with two frames of Ricky getting shot, the last frame reading “ GAME OVER”. It took me a few seconds to understand the use of a video game console and this scene in particular. For an illustration to appear as so simple, the message is so much greater.

Are we living in reality or a dimensional space?

The final installment was the Pegasex series. For some reason, nowadays, artists and producers seem to be fascinated with the use of animal masks. While they are a little off-putting at times, they work.