Roger C. Tucker III
“The Conk Still Reigns” comments on Black male hairstyles over the years; “Black hairstyles from the past still resonate in spite of the radical Afros and natural styles that tried to replace them. The images of me (bald baby, short hair in kindergarten, Afro’d teen and bald again baby boomer) aren’t as positive or ideal as my generation had hoped. The “do-rag” is still with us, in search of the perfect “wave”.” The original 30 x 40 inch image was included in the Jersey City Museum’s HAIR TACTICS art exhibition in 2010.
HAIR TACTICS
The Jersey City Museum, New Jersey, Jersey City, 02/05/2010 - 08/22/2010
350 Montgomery Street
Guest Curated by Rocio Aranda-Alvarado
Hair Tactics explores hair as subject matter and medium. Increasingly, artists have begun to use both real and synthetic human hair to create works of art. Some use synthetic hair because it is widely and inexpensively available in urban neighborhoods, others because it is laden with social and political meaning, and still others because they are exploring the human obsession with hair. Texts written in hair, fancy hair motifs used to decorate a love letter, extravagant and multi-colored wigs, drawings featuring hair-covered bodies, and ladies with elaborate up-dos are all featured in Hair Tactics. The exhibition includes works in a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, prints, photographs, video, and installation.
Artists in the exhibition: Manuel Acevedo, Amina Ahmed, Elia Alba, Firelei Báez, Nina Lola Bacchuber, Melody Boone, Melissa Calderón, Ursula Endlicher, Zachary Fabri, Carson Fox, Chitra Ganesh, Asha Ganpat, Bill Gaskins, Renée Green, Hermanas Iglesias (Janelle and Lisa Iglesias), Kristina Jacob, Tamara Kostianovsky, Jessica Lagunas, Simone Leigh, Sharon Louden, Felicia Megginson, Irvin Morazán, Omar Obdulio Peña Forty, Sa’dia Rehman, Kenya (Robinson), Nadine Robinson, Roger Sayre, Roger C. Tucker III, Quintín Rivera-Toro, Jayoung Yoon, and So Yoon Lym.