Echo Park '92 — Harlesden High Street

Opening 7th Oct 2021 4-9pm
Through to 10th October 12-9pm
SWAB Art Fair
Pabellón de Italia. Plaça de Carles Buïgas, 8, 08038 Barcelona

Echo Park ‘92 aims to be the first art fair exhibition displaying works by some of the West Coast rap scenes’ original pioneers. The exhibition presents Noah Haytin and Darryl ‘Joe Cool’ Daniels who were behind some iconic album covers and visual representations of hip hop culture during the early to mid 90’s in the US.

Noah Haytin conceived the original No Limit Records logo in 1992 the second record label known for giving its artists and staff members an emblematic medallion symbol of belonging to the label. Darryl ‘Joe Cool’ Daniels, a cousin of Snoop Doggy Dogg, illustrated the debut album Doggystyle (1993) which featured a cartoon image of Snoop Doggy Dogg and his mentor Big C-Style. The album cover gave visual recognition to Snoop, which together with the solid production provided by Dr. Dre elevated the album to one of the most influential hip hop records to date.

Both artists created groundbreaking visual identities for the hip hop music industry as a whole, but they have never been recognized by the broader contemporary art scene.

This installation wants to bring these artists to the spotlight, helping to create a new market that can support these typologies of work, forging new relationships with wider audiences.

The presentation of the installation contains MDF boards taken from the L.A. riots and presented in as close to its original form as possible as shops and buildings were boarded up and covered by cryptic Hispanic graffiti. The other works in the show depict an abstract interior of child’s living room growing up during the period, watching the news broadcasts whilst enjoying a chocolate milk unaware of the paradox that would take place 30 years later in the wake of BLM and the tragic deaths of Brianna Taylor, George Ffloyd and many others murdered through Police Brutality, stemming from Darryl Gates rise to power as the L.A. county police commissioner.

The project factors into Harlesden High Street’s ethos of bridging cultural gaps, not only bring an audience to the artists, but introducing the homogenous sectors of the art market to the artists outside of their scope.

Echo park 92’ represents the reverberation of the experience of structural violence against people of colour throughout an undetermined number of generations that have produced their identity through struggle and alienation, yet finding strength through community and self-assertion.

The installation, set in the LA riots of 1992, seeks to abstractly represent the impact that the events of this cardinal moment in civil rights history may have had on a young person of colour who witnessed them at an equally crucial moment in their lives; how they may have shaped their subjectivity, helped them discover their identity and independence, and given them the strength they’ll need to repeatedly fight those same fights thirty years later.

The exhibition also includes works by Darryl Joe Cool Daniel, Chi Modu,Mandy El-Sayegh, Lawrence Hubbard, Stacie Ant, Noah Haytin, KO___OL and Linda Nwachukwu

Curated by Jonny Tanna
and Lucía Ríos González

Project management
Rodrigo Vargas Triana

List Of Works

1. Noah Haytin
AMG Golden Era Rap Graphics Series, 1992
Pen and ink on MDF wooden boards
120 x 120cm

2. Noah Haytin
Bendiga Dios A Todos (installation), 2021
Spray paint on MDF and wall
120 x 120cm/variable

3. Joe Cool
L.A Riots Series #7
White Marker pen on c-type print
A3/29.7 x 42 cm

4. Chimodu featuring Stacie Ant
Ali-C on the Venice Shoreline, 2019
3D Lenticular Print on Aluminum Backing
A1 Size - 59.4 x 84.1cm

5. Joe Cool
The Day The Niggaz Took Over, 1992
White ink on bill poster inspired canvas, MDF board from
a store during the Los Angeles riots
120 x 120cm

5. Joe Cool
Ghetto Gone Wild/LA Riots ‘92
Various news recordings
Joe Cool compiled onto VHS
Running time: 120 mins

7. Lawrence Hubbard
Memories of childhood - The Bus Crash, 2021
Gel marker pens and pencil on white bristol board paper
A3/11 x 17 inches

8. Mandy El-Sayegh
WHOLESOME, 2021
Ink and pencil on white bristol board paper
A3/11 x 17 inches

9 - 10. Los Skanless shopping trolley, various items from the ‘92 riots

Casandra Burrell
Aaliyah Dana Haughton as I remember her, 2021
Airbrush on Tommy Hilfiger Fleece Jacket

Space Brat
Left Eye Legacy, 2021
Airbrush on cotton White Tee

11. KO___OL
Practice Hours, 2021
Picnic Bag, Nokia 7600, The Sun Newspaper (Nov 2003) , Kicking Tee, Diary zine , Cotton scarves, FHM magazine

11a. Linda Nwachukwu - Various illustrations animated on the screen

Online Viewing Room
https://www.artland.com/exhibitions/harlesden-high-street-booth-5

Selected Press
SWAB 2021 CURATOR TALKS by Jérôme Pantalacci

https://www.barcelona.cat/barcelonacultura/en/recomanem/swab-barcelona-art-fair-2021-programme