Umar Rashid

Artist’s Statement

For more than a decade, now, I’ve attempted through art to illustrate an alternative, historical narrative focusing on the themes of war and domination.

During that essential, early phase of finding myself as a human being, the theme of war landed like a missile of intentional trajectory in the center of my artistic landscape. In my quest to understand history, I devoured books and was crushed to read how violent conquest has ruled since the beginning of time.

I decided to underscore the fragility of life in war by putting a satirical spin on the narrative of conquer and colonize that encompasses global history. I set out to create alternative or “fictionalized” history, based upon the supposition that the British Civil War resulted in a merger of France and England, giving birth to a super power, known as “Frengland.” In my focus on the day-to- day operations of empire, I explore race, gender, class and power within the framework of the story board.

I believe what contemporizes my artistic retelling of history is my reaching forward—drawing inspiration from the present, notably hip hop and gang cultures. When I moved west from Chicago, I settled in East Los Angeles, where I melded my flavorful African-American upbringing with the vibrant Chicano culture found here.

My current year-long research journey will culminate in a narrative reinterpreting Latin America’s colonial past: from the arrival of the Spaniards in Los Angeles to Indian revolts at noted missions and beyond.

Website: frohawktwofeathers.com

Biography

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

2017
The Belhaven Republic (A Delta Blues)
The Martha and Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Memphis. Memphis, TN.

2016
That Aint Gold, That’s A Soul.
New Image Art, Los Angeles

2015
Rampjaar. #tbt to that time when we didn’t let xenophobia get in the way of some sweet, motherfucking payback. 1789.
Galerie Cokkie Snoei Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Kill Your Best Ideas, The Battle for New York and Its Lifeline, the Hudson River.
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

2014
MATRIX 170:
On Errythang (On Everything), Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art,
Hartford, CT
Volta Art Fair
Basel, Switzerland.
Heartbreaking and Shit, But that’s the Globe: The Battle Of Manhattan.
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY

2013
We Don’t Need No Water (Les Temps de la Chevauchee’)
Narwhal Projects. Toronto, Ontario. Canada
And Those Figures Through The Leaves. And The Light Through That Smoke. Part
Two of The Americas.
Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
You Can Fall: The War of The Mourning Arrows.
Visual Arts Center of NJ, Summit, NJ.
also traveled to the Wellin Museum, Hamilton, College, Clinton, NY

2012
All Gold Everything. An Elegy.
Taylor De Cordoba, Los Angeles, CA
We Buy Gold, We Buy Everything, We Sell Souls
Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
Every Winter Was A War, She Said
Heiner Contemporary, Washington, D.C
It’s Yours: Wars of the Frenglish Revolution and Other Conflicts (1792-1797)
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY

2011
The Edge of the Earth Isn’t Far From Here
Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
La Guerre De Machettes Danseuses (The War Of The Dancing Machetes) Crocodile Company, Part 1
Taylor De Cordoba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2009
Frohawk Two Feathers @ Scenic,
curated by Simon Watson & Craig Hensala,
New York, NY

2008
In The Court Of The Crimson King
Taylor De Cordoba, Los Angeles, CA

2006
Last Night, After the Lights Went Out, We Fell
Taylor De Cordoba, Los Angeles, CA
25 Bold Moves
curated by Simon Watson & Craig Hensala
House of Campari, Los Angeles
The Easter Seal
Bent Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
C-Note Show
Project, Los Angeles, CA
You and Me
Unitard Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2005
The Union vs. The Confederacy
Marvimon House, Los Angeles, CA
Tundrafoot vs. The Vikes,
Han Cholo, Los Angeles, CA
Cool Heat
Blue Chips Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016
Postcolonial Contemporary
Incline Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
Swimming In The Playground
Fifty24SF Gallery. San Francisco, CA.
Amsterdam Art Fair
Cokkie Snoei. Amsterdam, Netherlands

2015
A Primitive Future
Subliminal Projects. Echo Park , CA.
Voces
Avenue 50 Studio. Los Angeles, CA.

2014
Attunement
The Armory Center fro the Arts. Pasadena, CA.
Uncertain Terms
What If The World Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Based on a True Story: Duke Riley and Frohawk Two Feathers
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH

2013
Good Intentions: Re-Imagining Rockwell’s Boy Scouts
Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, CA
June Group Show
Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Rocky Mountain High.
Gildar Gallery. Denver, CO.
In Case We Don’t Die,
Torrance Art Museum

2010
Stranger Than Fiction
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Opening Ceremony
Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY
Else
Tilton Gallery, New York, NY

2005
Permafrost At Ghettogloss
Ghettogloss Gallery, Los Angeles

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2016
Dorsey, Danielle. Future Tongue X Umar Rashid
www.futuretongue.com
Miranda, Carolina A. Datebook: African disguise at the Fowler, primitive futures at Subliminal, and an arty sports bar in Echo Park.
Los Angeles Times
Quick, Genevieve. Postcolonial Contemporary at Incline Gallery
Temporary Art Review
Peree, Rob. Frohawk Two Feathers/Umar Rashid
Africanah.org
Van der brug, Brian. Facebook’s new digs in Playa Vista.
Los Angeles Times (Photo)

2015
Konermann, Alyssa. On view: ‘Based On A True Story’ at the Contemporary Arts Center.
Cincinnati Magazine.
Seda-Reeder, Maria. Truth Telling: Duke Riley and Frohawk Two Feathers at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art 

2014
Dunne, Susanne. Artist re-imagines Hartford, world history
The Hartford Courant
Pflaumer, Barbara. Artists Drinking Beer
Foreground Magazine (Summer)

2011
Duncan, Michael. Soul Searching In The U.S.A. p.134 -139
Art In America
Yorio, Erika, Frohawk Two Feathers (February 2011),
Antennae Magazine

2010
Cotter, Holland. ‘Else’, Art in Review,
(2010 September),
The New York Times

2008
The Rise and Fall of The Frenglish Empire, Part Four. (2008,June).
Flaunt Magazine
Artistic Vision (paintings reproduced). (2008, March).

2007
Myers, Holly. A chapter from colonial times.(2008, February 29).
Los Angeles Times
New American Paintings No. 73, juried by Alma Ruiz
MOCA Los Angeles, Fall, 2007

2006
Nys Dambrot, Shana. Review. (2006, November).
Art Ltd
Muchnic, Suzanne. The Art Explosion. (2006 September).
Los Angeles Times
Nys Dambrot, Shana. Preview. (2006, September)
Flavorpill L.A. , # 184.

2004
Two Feathers, Frohawk. (2004).
The Hunter and the Teardrop.
Self Published 

AWARDS

2017 CCF Fellowship

COLLECTIONS

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
The Hudson River Museum
Nevada Museum of Art
Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College
Conseil Regional de la Guadeloupe
The Brooklyn Museum
The Mount Holyoke Art Museum
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art
21C Museum
The Progressive Collection
The Artist Pension Trust
Facebook Playa Vista (Mural)

EDUCATION

2000
BA, Southern Illinois University At Carbondale, Carbondale, IL