Charlotte Street's Urban Culture Project Presents HIP HOP IS UNDEAD, 11/5

In neighborhoods from coast to coast, fallen rap heroes like Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G and Big Pun are immortalized in painted murals. Using visual arts to honor hip-hop's dearly departed, Hip-Hop is Undead -Friday November 5, 6-10pm at la Esquina, a Charlotte Street Urban Culture Project venue-unites the feel of those organic, street-art tributes with a traditional Dia de los Muertos-style celebration.

All four elements of hip-hop will be represented in Hip-Hop is Undead, curated by Phil Shafer, aka Sike Style. Shafer has commissioned over a dozen Kansas City artists to contribute works in mediums from sculpture to spray paint. Featured will be pieces by Jason Sierra, James Ramirez, Amanda Zeitler, Jeremy Madl, Daniel "Lucid" Bartle, Phil "Sike Style" Shafer, Shannon Moore, Luke Rocha, and Two Tone Press.

In addition, the event features DJ Ataxic on the turntables, a special performance by the Tiger Style b-boy crew, and an interactive graffiti wall. Viewers are invited to participate by lighting a candle or placing an offering on a memorial altar and, for those wishing to add to the ambiance, come dressed up as your favorite ghost of hip-hop's past!

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Phil Shafer grew up in Kansas City, MO and attended Kansas City Art Institute, where he majored in photography and digital media. By the time her received his BFA, he was already known throughout Kansas City for ubiquitous stickers and wheat pasted posters that carried various messages and bore the machine mask that became his Sikenomics trademark. In 2006, Shafer established a clothing line of the same name, now sold in stores and online; drawing on his fine arts background, he approaches his t-shirt designs as wearable editions in a continually evolving series, and has presented his clothing in Kansas City's 18th Street Fashion Show as well as in fashion shows in Philadelphia and Chicago. Shafer's artwork (which also includes prints, paintings, sculptures and more) has been presented at Kansas City venues including The Cube at Beco, Mercy Seat Gallery, Kansas City Artists Coalition, and Third Eye Gallery. He has organized multi-media exhibitions and events for Scion Lab, Paragraph gallery, the former Boley gallery, and elsewhere, and is currently a Charlotte Street Urban Culture Project Studio Resident. Visit www.sikesyle.com for more information.

Urban Culture Project is an initiative of the Charlotte Street Foundation, an organization dedicated to making Kansas City a place where artists and art thrive. Urban Culture Project creates new opportunities for artists of all disciplines and contributes to urban revitalization by transforming spaces in downtown Kansas City into new venues for multi-disciplinary contemporary arts programming. For more information, visit www.charlottestreet.org.

 

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