Iona Rozeal Brown

Brown questions cultural and racial stereotypes by blending styles and images of Japanese, Latino and African American hip-hop culture. Her art practice mirrors her rituals as a DJ in sampling, mixing, and syncing. Addressing themes of gender and identity, this life-size painting presents one of her dancers in a powerful and celebratory posture. The vogueing performer wears an enormous pearl headdress and resonates in an intimate and sexual way through his speaker-like wings. The work also incorporates Byzantine iconographic references as markers of purity, the earthly and the heavenly.

Iona Rozeal Brown (1966, USA) lives and works in New York City. She received her MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2002. Her work has been widely exhibited including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, the Performa 11 Biennial and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC.