Soundscapes Exhibition Catalog

LARRY PONCHO BROWN

LARRY PONCHO BROWN

BALTIMORE CIT Y HALL COURT YARD G ALLERIES AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSIC APPRECIATION MONTH JUNE 2018

CUR AT OR’S S TAT E ME N T

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arry Poncho Brown’s Soundscapes collection for the Baltimore City Hall Courtyard Galleries honors African-American Music Appreciation Month (formerly Black Music Month) with a cross-section of the artist’s pieces from 20+ years of painting artwork for Jazz music venue merchandising and promotion. Poncho’s professional success in painting visually enthralling and uplifting pieces for Jazz festivals with “a lot of talking going on,” as he puts it, is comfortably secondary to his personal relationship with Jazz, and Black music in general, and its encompassing influence on his work.

“Music is a backbone to how [he] works… it stimulates creativity, and [he] goes into a trance when working.” Poncho was going to Jazz festivals before he was commissioned to paint for them, and he’ll be going to festivals when they stop commissioning him, too.

His other artworks, specifically rooted in the African American experience, may be less accessible to a wider audience, Poncho notes, “but music is universal,” and “black music has its own essence.”

The artist capitalizes on this divergence within a commonality to reach across cultural barriers. Poncho’s audience is bathed in colorful marks and smooth gestures that take you on a journey through the painting, into the very process of its making, to the music, and the rich culture and history embedded in Black art and Black music.

Poncho’s paintings for Jazz festivals capture the essence of Jazz- the characteristic improvisation heard in the music is felt in his brush stroke. The strong meter and syncopated rhythmic patterns combine with emotionality to create a conversation between Jazz and the listener, a conversation Poncho continues on the canvas. Simultaneously joyous and bittersweet; full of passion, compassion, and dreams, the music and the paintings are intrinsically tied to the history and stories that swell in the notes played and paint applied, for the voice of the artist is the uniquely tangible texture in both.

The Soundscapes collection features a style Poncho created, acrylic canvas collage. The deceptively playful flattening layering of foregrounds and backgrounds, of textures and figures, in bright, rich tones, sometimes patterned, make these paintings vibrate with emotion. As Black musicians pour their souls through their instruments and voices into their music, so too does Poncho release his own spirit into the images he creates and lays bare for his audience. Poncho’s art, like Black music, is an intimate conversation, challenging the audience with unbridled truth, hidden-and not so hidden- pain, and still an overriding sense of hope.

Jeffrey Kent, MFA Curator Tempo Mixed Media on Paper 35” x 10.5” 2007

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A R T IS T S TAT E ME N T

lack music is life. Music is the perfect soulmate to art. Black music is like that soul food you can’t wait to eat at grandma’s house every holiday. Black music is landing that project after devoting long nights and extra hours because you were determined to not let anyone grind harder than you. Black music is that feeling you get when you are the first in your family to graduate college, throwing your cap in the air while hitting your illest hype dance, because you did it for the betterment of your family, community and culture.

One way we celebrate black music is through the creative events and functions we support that place the talents of our indie, underground, and mainstream artists on display. Typically, festivals and concerts serve as the main avenue to experience these talents. Various events are looking to take the celebration of music to a new level in order to feed the artistic souls of black visionaries and creatives everywhere.

Large-scale festivals like the Capital Jazz Fest, Essence Music Festival, Afropunk, and other concerts continue to sprout up internationally, to showcase the talent some of our nation’s most popular musicians. Venues nationwide continue to raise the bar for black music

and highlights the exact reason why black music and creativity is to be celebrated every June and every day.

In former President Barack Obama’s 2016 proclamation about Black Music Month, he stated, “African American music and musicians have helped the country to dance, to express our faith through song, to march against injustice, and to defend our country’s enduring promise of freedom and opportunity for all.”

As we continue honoring the musical legends who have shaped black culture, let’s consciously be reminded that the black pride that so many of us possess stems from the black music we live by. As the Godfather of Soul famously proclaimed...Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud!

“Listening to music is at the pulse and baseline of my creative energies, like meditation, it allows me to time travel through my work in ways that transcend my consciousness.”

-Larry Poncho Brown MusicFest Official Macy’s Music Festival Poster Mixed Media on Paper 30” x 22” 2007

Street Songs Acrylic Canvas Collage 30” x 40” 2009

On The Main Stage Acrylic on Canvas 30” x 40” 2008

Smoove Groove Mixed Media Collage 40” x 30” 2018

Jazzy Keys Mixed Media Collage 40” x 30” 2018

Two Street Sounds Acrylic Canvas Collage 48” x 36” 2012

To The Beat On 2nd Street Acrylic Canvas Collage 40” x 30” 2011

Funky Interlude Acrylic Canvas Collage 62” x 70” 2018

Nuthin’ But Da Blues Acrylic Canvas Collage 30” x 40” 2007

Soundscape Acrylic on Canvas 40” x 30” 2007

JazzFest Copper Repousse 40” x 30” 2007

Smooth Cruise Acrylic Canvas Collage 40” x 30” 2016

The Jazz Dimension Acrylic Canvas Collage 30” x 40” 2008

Jazz On Ogontz Ave. Acrylic on Watercolor Paper 22.5” x 30” 2005

Blue Notes Acrylic Canvas Collage 40” x 30” 2013

Live On Ogontz Acrylic Canvas Collage 40” x 30” 2005

Textured Sound #2 Acrylic on Watercolor Paper 30” x 22.5” 2005

Textured Sound #1 Acrylic on Watercolor Paper 30” x 22.5” 2005

Smooth Jazz #4 Acrylic on Watercolor Paper 30” x 22.5” 2005

Smooth Jazz #5 Acrylic on Watercolor Paper 30” x 22.5” 2005

Indigo Blues Mixed Media on Paper 37.5” x 30” 1995

PianoMan Mixed Media Collage 30” x 22.5” 2003

Big D Mixed Media on Canvas 30” x 40” 2018

BIOGR A P H Y

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arry Poncho Brown is a native of Baltimore, MD. Poncho received his Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in graphic design and photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. His art, both fine and commercial, has been published nationally in Upscale, Ebony, Ebony Man, Essence, and Jet magazines. His art is featured in the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History book entitled “Wrapped In Pride” and “Connecting People With Art”. His popular works have been prominently featured on several TV shows including “A Different World”, “In The House”, “The Wire”, “The Carmichael Show”, “Star”, and “Greenleaf”. Movies featuring his art include “Avalon”, “He Said, She Said”, and “Soulfood”.

His work adorns the walls of the likes of Bill Cosby, the late Dick Gregory, Anita Baker, Susan Taylor, Ed Gordon and Bernard Bronner just to name a few. His original works are in the corporate and institutional collections of Coppin State University, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the District of Columbia Superior Courts, the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Yale New Haven Health Park Avenue Medical Center.

He was one of many artists often referenced as “The Popular Artists” who gained national recognition during “The Cosby Show” era, and found commercial success between 1985-2000 during a period known as “The Golden Age of African American Art”, by making their art accessible to the masses through direct

participation in community art and cultural festivals, foregoing the traditional artist arrangement of artist representation, gallery representation, and art publisher distribution. At the height of this era his works were sold in 3000 galleries across the country, and on the walls of nearly 500,000 homes.

His art, both fine and commercial, has been published nationally in Art Trends, U.S. Art Gallery, Images, Upscale, Ebony, Ebony Man, Essence, and Jet Magazines.

In pursuing his philanthropic goals, he founded “Raising The Arts” which provides fundraising opportunities for non-profit organizations. He has created over 70 images for such organizations over the past three decades. Poncho was awarded “Artist of the Year” by the African American Visual Arts Association in 2000, the “Heritage Arts Festival Palette Award” in 2003, and the “Save the Arts Award” as Museum’s Choice in 2010, and “The Jan Spivey Gilchrist Visual Arts Award” in 2013.

“The African American art realm has been pressing onward because of the positive images that have become a narrative of our perseverance.

My works attempt to capture SOUL while purposely depicting positive representations of African American culture. Art and black imagery are the strongest forms to challenge the perceptions of African Americans in our society.”

- Larry Poncho Brown

This exhibition was sponsored by Baltimore City Hall Courtyard Galleries.

Special Thanks to Honorable Mayor Catherine Pugh, Curator Jeffrey Kent, and Project Manager Cleo Arbia Rose