Arthur Jafa, born in 1960 in Tupelo, Mississippi, developed his practice through cinema and expanded into difficult video work and strange objects. His reputation surged in 2016 with Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death, a collage of found social-media footage combining police violence against Black people with moments of viral celebration and joy. The work was experimental yet accessible, drawing large crowds at its early New York showing. A follow-up, The White Album, won the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Jafa returned to Venice for a two-person show, Helter Skelter, with Richard Prince, and curated Less Is Morbid at MoMA. He also won an Art Basel Award.
"Jafa’s reputation went viral in 2016 with the video, Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death. It is a collage of found footage from social media that included police violence against Black people and also moments of viral celebration and joy. It was both experimental and accessible, and drew huge crowds when it was first shown at Gavin Brown's Enterprise in New York."
"A follow-up film, called The White Album, won the Golden Lion for Best Artist as part of the main show of the Venice Biennale back in 2019. And this month, Jafa is back in Venice, this time in a two-person show called " Helter Skelter," curated by Nancy Spector, pairing him with the famous artist Richard Prince, also known for using found and appropriated imagery to disorienting effect."
"Jafa has also curated a show currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art, called " Less Is Morbid," a deliberately packed display of his favorite art. He is also one of the winners of this year's Art Basel Award, to be honored at that fair. In the middle of all this intense activity, Jafa agreed to talk to me about his art, his view of art history, and what comes next."
Read at Artnet News
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