I hope I'm not proud of any shade, but Spike Lee, you know, again, when talking about that relationship with film, cinema, being a movie goer. There's something quite special in the way that Spike Lee is able to carve that and create these moments within various scenes of his films. He does that with some of the ones I've mentioned. Sometimes it's more successful than in other cases, but it's unashamedly. It's own kind of energy or aura. And the time that you kind of give to it is the promise that will give you back. Which contemporary artist do you miss to buy? Sonja voice, Eddie Chambers, Rashida Re
In this first episode of a new series of A brush with…, Ben Luke talks to Larry Achiampong about his influences—from writers to film-makers, musicians and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work. Achiampong was born in London in 1984 to parents from Ghana, and he explores his personal and communal heritage through media including film, sculpture, installation, sound and performance. He uses diverse visual languages, drawn from popular culture like gaming, comics and Hollywood movies, as well as video art and conceptualism, to explore the legacies of colonisation and entrenched inequalities in contemporary society relating to class, gender and race. He veers from documentary to speculative fiction, often within the same piece. Achiampong discusses the profound early influence of Adrian Piper’s art and the films of Spike Lee, the poetry of Claudia Rankine, how he draws on video games and comics as well as art, and his rejection of the term Afrofuturism. Plus, he gives insight into his life in the studio, and reflects on our usual questions, including the ultimate: what is art for?
Larry Achiampong: Wayfinder, BALTIC, Gateshead, UK, until 29 October 2023; Larry Achiampong and David Blandy: Genetic Automata, Wellcome Collection, London, until 11 February 2024.
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