Bling Bling from the Visual Artists Prespective

Krista Thompson Driskell Prize Winner and Associate Professor of Art History at Northwestern University gave a dynamic and informative lecture on the emergence of bling and its manifestation via hip hop. During the Q&A, I offered that during Reaganomics--when hip hop shifted from more casual and conscious foci to materialism in its lyricism--the shift was due to the fact that youth or the primary listening audience required such a shift because while the audio component of the culture provided freedom-saving agents, the more obvious visuals appeared missing though they were necessary. So in other words, w/ bling as the listener goes about his or her day w/ a virtual road map--via hip hop--is provided for that ultaconservative Republican reign bcuz while there were some clues that were accessible w/ the music the bling was the additional, necessary component that prevents that partial and frustrated feeling. Thanks again Krista, Kudos! P.S. See previous entries on Kehinde Wiley in this blog - Tlhompson examines him quite a bit in this lecture