Iona Rozeal Brown trades in imagery of the ganguro, Japanese nationals who darken their skin to emulate African Americans. For her, this subculture is a platform from which to engage issues of race and rampant capitalism on a global scale. In a handful of recent paintings in this exhibition, “Bling Blasian Bling,” she offers her now signature fusions of ukiyo-e style and subject matter with the designer flash of hip-hop royalty. Geishas, courtesans, and a lone young yakuza are outfitted with poufy Afros, hair extensions, fur coats, curving, talonlike fingernails, and deep brown, masklike facial tans. She also introduces an army of über-consumers that she dubs “w.o.i.m.s.” (an acronym, more or less, for “weapons of mass spending”). They’re homely, single-toothed, caterpillar-like critters who attend to their ganguro ladies by serving as hair curlers, when not scampering off with their gold jewelry. Loosely rendered in a manner that evokes graffiti art, the greedy w.o.i.m.s. effectively add an extra shot of capitalist queasiness. Brown also contributes to a large, vivid mural, made in collaboration with Stella Lai (whose works on paper are on view too). Here, the artists march to the visual vocabulary of Chinese propaganda, depicting a group of African Americans bejeweled with shiny cell phones and a chalice aptly engraved with the word “playa.”
