2K

“Chicago born Frohawk Two Feathers is a man at the nexus of many truths. On one hand, he’s an alchemist of visual art who turns dull history into golden narratives rich with beautiful subversion. On the other, he’s a performance artist who experiments with music, poetry and alter egos, including the psychedelic sexpot Kent Cyclone. Then there’s Umar Rashid, the mastermind behind it all who percolates the creativity that keeps his many artistic endeavors running. As a visual artist, the Lincoln Heights resident creates evocative illustrations and paintings of fictional aristocrats that take stylistic cues from post-colonial era portraiture. These colorful works — which glean the outsider-art aesthetic of murals and public art — explore the intricacies of race, the malleability of class and the fragility of how history is constructed. Although his characters are fictional — some are absurd inhabitants of the imagined country of Frengland — they are abstractions of a real ruling class that present a visual dialogue between the oppressor and the oppressed. Whether he’s challenging expectations with his personas or rewriting history in his paintings, Frohawk embodies the peripatetic Los Angeles art scene, where genre-obliteration reigns supreme and one medium is never seems enough. Frohawk is represented by Taylor De Cordoba in Los Angeles.”