Art Beat: Pop culture and gospel meet in 'Things I Overheard the Void Say' in New Bedford
D. Lupe’s current one-man exhibition is cryptically titled “Things I Overheard the Void Say.” It suggests that there is something in nothingness and that perhaps, the absence of all speaks just loud enough for those who long to listen.
There are seven paintings in the Co-Creative Center show but they pack a wallop. Six of the seven escape the confines of the square and the rectangle and take on a variety of unexpected shapes that include old school television sets with rabbit ears antennae, an illuminated Nike sneaker, and a sci-fi assault rifle made of bone and teeth.
Lupe (a.k.a. David Guadalupe, Jr.) leans heavily and unabashedly into pop culture for source material. But he long ago transitioned from fanboy to philosopher, as he earnestly examines, curates, dissects and deconstructs the trappings of pop entertainment and commercialism, imbuing it with new possibility and meaning.
“Irregularly Schedueled Programming l” recasts “The Simpsons.” Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Bart are depicted as a Black family, all engaged with gadgets and electronic devices as they slouch on a version of the iconic couch.
Of “The Simpsons,” Lupe, who is of Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean ancestry, has said that he realized it “encapsulated a moment” when he realized that the pop culture he admired and glorified so much didn’t necessarily admire or glorify him, or people who looked like him. By changing the skin tone, Lupe abstracts the familiar and challenges the viewer to ask why.
In a similar vein, with “Irregularly Scheduled Programming ll,” Lupe parodies a moment from the 1966 “Batman” movie — itself already a parody — in which the Adam West version of the Caped Crusader attempts to dislodge a great white from his leg with a blast of “Shark Repellent Bat-Spray.”
Lupe makes the protagonist a cartoonish Black boy, effectively creating a Saturday morning cartoon pop pastiche of “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” and “Jabberjaw.”
In the early 60s, there were no Black superheroes to speak of. The Black Panther was introduced in an issue of “Fantastic Four” in 1966. It wouldn’t be until 1977, that the animated “Super-Friends” would gain its first Black member: the electricity-wielding Black Vulcan, who joined alongside Samurai and Apache Chief, diversifying that previously all-white (and almost all-male) team of heroes. But I digress.
Pop culture is a big ubiquitous, ever-changing and never-changing beast that encompasses film, television, fashion, literature, music, sports, technology, dimestore politics and much more and bleeds into every aspect of life. It ranges from the Virgin Mary to the Material Girl, from Beowulf to James Bond, and Mount Olympus to the Magic Kingdom.
Lupe’s “The Pious” features a pair of clasped, praying hands. Rosary beads hang below but no crucifix dangles. Instead, there are social media icons signifying “add friend,” “message” and “love,” implying that online networking has supplanted the communal faith of previous generations.
“MAG” is a large-scale, elaborate and over-the-top depiction of a Nike sneaker, all aglow. It works as a commentary on consumer pop culture and corporate greed.
In an artist statement, Lupe wrote, “When popular culture seemed almost more gospel than entertainment, we remained transfixed to the altar.” With his work, Lupe is a pop evangelist of sorts, the kind that overhears the Word of the Void. And winks at the congregation.
“”Things I Overheard the Void Say” is on display at the Co-Creative Center, 137 Union St., New Bedford, until Nov. 30.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Art Beat: D. Lupe's 'Things I Overheard the Void Say' in New Bedford
