A lady outfitted in a costume suited for the finest dandy. A girl carefully crops out her face as she snaps her nude body with her camera phone. A dewy-faced, wet-lipped American Apparel model. These are the images that have inspired Ms. Dawn Okoro. Vibrant, sensual, and human are the oil on canvas paintings interpreting glossy fashion ads. With her recent move to New York, the part-Nigerian law student turned contemporary fine artist, is swiftly gaining recognition in these mean streets, having recently closed an exhibition at Harlem’s Renaissance Fine Arts Gallery. We previously featured Dawn Okoro’s work on the site, but we decided to catch up with her, in an attempt to gain entry into the mind of the gifted painter.

Afripopmag: When did you decide to pursue the art of painting?

Dawn Okoro: In law school, I painted, and during that time and it helped me pay my rent.  I did commissions and sold original pieces that I made. After that, I knew that life wasn’t for me. I just couldn’t see myself being in a courtroom everyday. So from then on I just had to pursue the art. I went to law school in Houston Texas, and that’s where I met an artist named William Cordova. He introduced me to a lot of different options that I didn’t know about for being an artist so that was really encouraging. I guess that was something I got out of going to law school. (more…)

Other than hedging your bets for the Oscars on Sunday and trying to work your way down to Austin next week for SXSW, March is giving us a bevy of things to get in to—peep game. Get at us to get your event featured!

NEW YORK

PULSE Contemporary Art Fair : March 4- 7 : 330 West St @ Houston

Here in NYC it’s Armory Week, think Fashion Week for visual artists, and a perfect time to start or add to your own personal collection. Even if you aren’t at the Picasso level yet, these events are perfect for discovering new artists and inspirations. Divided into two sections, one for young galleries and another for more well-established names, PULSE is the perfect place to start. This year it features a host of exhibitors representing nineteen countries and four continents. A highlight for us is the PULSE Play> video lounge which is presenting Ordinary Occurrences, curated by El Museo del Barrio’s own Deborah Cullen, which will feature artists of Caribbean descent in light of the disaster in Haiti. PULSE continues to it’s other home, Miami, in December.

For more info: PULSE

Above: “Back to the Futurama”, Jeremy Dean, 2009. Read more about Jeremy’s Hummer/Hoover horse-drawn cart here, it will be on view at PULSE. (more…)

NEW YORK

Pieter Hugo | Nollywood
opens: 2/25 – closes 4/8

Opening Reception: February 25th, 6-8pm
Yossi Milo Gallery
521 W25th Street, NYC

“Pieter Hugo’s series Nollywood portrays archetypal characters from one of the three largest film industries in the world, “Nollywood” in Nigeria. Nollywood produces over 1000 low-budget, straight-to-video films a year. The films lean toward the macabre and melodramatic, with narratives rooted in local symbolic imagery and traditional storytelling. Themes and subjects often include the supernatural, with plots centered on romance, extortion, prostitution, witchcraft, or religion. Produced for a primarily African audience, the films are a rare example of African self-representation in mass media.

The photographs in the series were taken with a medium-format camera in the film production centers of Enugu and Asaba in southern Nigeria, using local actors to recreate scenes and characters inspired by typical Nollywood films. The staged images, which recall film production stills, are the artist’s interpretations of the iconic myths and symbols that characterize Nollywood movies…The resulting images are portraits on the border between documentary and fiction.”

- taken from the Yossi Milo website

For some reason I get flashbacks of every video made in Ft. Greene circa 1993-97 when I watch this. Thoughts Fam? This is from an upcoming project from photographer/director Michael Sterling Eaton and Mos + your other favorite rappers. Should be pretty fresh.

Dawn Okoro is an NYC-based, Texas-bred, Nigerian-American artist who specializes in sensual contemporary portraits with a retro vibe. Check out more of her work at www.dawnokoro.com and after the jump! (more…)

We at Parlour are total believers in supporting our fam, so in the grand holiday spirit, we have to tell you about our homie, Berman Fenelus. He’s an awesome photographer & director—remember those dope Summer Jam flicks? Exactly.

This Sunday he will be opening a show at Grady’s Collective Market, the sister space of Cure in Brooklyn. It’s a great new shop that caters to all things style: vintage fashion, home decor & florals and more! Perfect if you want to grab some gifts and enjoy some great, original artwork.

Just in time for the holidays he has put together a collection of intimate, organic, and raw moments. From beauty and morning rituals, to expressions of joy and private pauses of reflection—Berman has set to capture some of the most striking images of beautiful women in their element. He is also selling a limited run of prints, signed and numbered for the collector in your crew.

OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday, December 13, 2009, 6pm
SHOW CLOSE: Sunday, January 17, 2010

Gradys Collective Market
923 Fulton St  Brooklyn, NY
C Train to Clinton/Washington

See you there!