August 09, 2007 @ 1:16 pm

Kori Newkirk: The Interpreter

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In the late '90s, Kori Newkirk was teaching high school art classes in South Central L.A. "They were brilliant," he says of his students, "and they tend to be dismissed." Not by Newkirk, though, who instead heralded their style as inspiration. Having been shuttled between New York City and Central New York state as a child, he developed what he called "a secondary double consciousness - the country mouse and the city mouse." That tension is the core of his art, which will receive a 10-year survey at New York's Studio Museum Harlem this fall; it includes self-portraits, as well as large-scale beaded curtains made of artificial hair and pony beads with landscapes and suburban cityscapes. He's even used pomade in his pieces: "Some people think it's stinky, and some people recognize the smell and the historical significance. It's incredibly coded - where you are determines what you get." Click here to read more interviews from our Juice list. NAME: Kori Newkirk
BIRTHDAY/AGE: 37
BORN: Bronx, NY
RESIDES: Los Angeles, CA SOMETHING I DO EVERYDAY FOR SANITY:
"Watch too much television." PLACE WHERE I'M MOST PRODUCTIVE:
"I get a lot of ideas in the car. " FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING/GOOD LUCK CHARM:
"These super cheesy medallions they sell downstairs - I never wear them but I collect them. They're all silver. One says LA, one says NA. You see them on 125th street." MOST FRUSTRATING MOMENT:
"No internet. Paris Hilton. Trust me, I mean all those things. Being taken for granted. Being confused for other people, and all that comes with that." PERSON I ADMIRE MOST:
"My parents, my high school art teacher and myself." 5 YEARS AGO, MY GOAL WAS...:
"Survival." 5 YEARS FROM NOW, MY GOAL IS...:
"More. Mo money, mo problems." BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING OUR GENERATION:
"Besides apathy? Lack of education. HIV. Famine. Global Warming. Apathy for everything. And Paris Hilton. " FAVORITE BOOK, AND WHY:
"Invisible Man. I related well to the idea of being invisible but very visible at the same time." FAVORITE MOVIE, AND WHY:
"Imitation of Life. It makes me cry. In the movie, the girl tries to pass and she denies herself but then comes back around. Something about that one just gets me. That one always gets me." SONGS I LISTEN TO WHILE I'M WORKING:
"Anything by Mary J., Sam Cooke - 'A Change is Gonna Come,' Biggie - 'One more Chance' (remix), Nina Simone, Fishbone - 'Truth and Soul.'"

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