Edition 5
legacy
Legacies exist as property, money or ideas bequeathed from one individual to another, spanning generations and time. They are lasting impressions or a gesture toward “forever,” implying history, longevity and permanence. And yet the events, and actions that make them, are rare examples of ingenuity and innovation — anomalies that break patterns and contradict the notion of continuity, which ironically is integral to the concept of “legacy.” In a time when global connectivity via the internet creates a wellspring of ideas and information, we want to bring forth those with lasting impressions. The OG’s fifth issue highlights the legacies of those who have upheld heritage and traditions while also redefining spaces and catalyzing change.
Front Cover: Mickalene Thomas
Back Cover: Studio Drift
FEATURED
FEATURED
humberto
leon
Known best for his groundbreaking work in fashion as the co-founder of the brand Opening Ceremony and as the creative director of Kenzo, Humberto Leon knows no bounds. With the opening of his family's Peruvian-Chinese restaurant, Chifa, in Eagle Rock, CA, Leon's legacy will now include a space where you can experience his family's careful, considered approach to food and community. "Chifa is really about bringing the same feeling of community I was building with Opening Ceremony, but into food,” Leon says in his interview with Vivian Ludford for the OG Magazine.
daniela
elbahara
In this personal essay "Outside Looking In," Daniela Elbahara takes the reader on a tour of Mexico City (CDMX) as it prepares for the 2021 Zona Maco Week (CDMX's Art Week), while reflecting on her own experiences as an artist, curator, and gallery owner. "How did I get to where I am, and what’s up with the Mexico City (CDMX) and Mexican contemporary art scene?" Tracing the ebbs and flows of her own legacy and relationship to art, Elbahara reminds us that art is the work of a lifetime.
jonathan
mannion
Jonathan Mannion's life work has been capturing the work of giants - Aaliyah, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z - tracing the evolution of hip-hop in "its most memorable and magical moments," through portraits of its most influential icons. It takes a particular kind of selflessness to create a portrait of a person, a willingness to surrender to the subject, to spend your life documenting the lives of other people, watching from behind the camera lens. In this profile of Mannion, Jewels Dodson explores the legacy of generosity the artist has crafted; the many decades he has spent putting "service over self." Read the full story in Issue 5 of the Online Gallery.
shepard
fairey
Shepard Fairey's work is all about scale: tiny, mass produced stickers that become ubiquitous the urban landscape everywhere you look (the iconic command to OBEY), emblems of massive political campaigns (think: Obama's 2008 HOPE poster), and public art stretched across buildings. Now, the artist is turning to the next frontier of artistic distribution: digital art. Jenna Mayer speaks to Fairey about his views on NFTs, the relationship between art and technology, and connection as the basis of all art.
koreatown
love club
To call Koreatown Run Club (K/RC) just a running club would be misleading, because running clubs don't usually provide the best KTown food recommendation, nor do they usually lead to the establishment of a burger joint with lines that wrap around the block, but @koreatown really did start out with the intention of being a casual athletic group. Years later, Esther Park speaks to its founders, Mike Pak, Duy Nguyen and Jimmy Han about how they carved a space for themselves in the heart of LA, and their shared love for community and all things KTown.
mickalene
thomas
Throughout her career, Mickalene Thomas has made it a point to invite other artists to share space with her by fostering creative collaboration with emerging and established artists in her international exhibitions and projects. Having recently completed a four-city tour of her exhibition "Beyond the Pleasure Principle," Thomas is now focusing on Pratt>Forward, an artist-led mentorship platform she co-founded at her undergraduate alma mater to connect emerging artists with creative thought-leaders for authentic professional development. Read about her determination to shift the art world away from scarcity to generosity in this profile by Autumn Breon for Issue 5 of the Online Gallery, with portraiture by Jonathon Mannion.
jeffrey
deitch
Throughout Jeffrey Deitch’s decades long career, he has built a legacy that has stood for diversity and inclusion since day one. Although the artworld is in constant flux, Deitch has remained steadfast in his commitment to centering artists and community, challenging the status quo, and introducing new perspectives. With all of life's inevitable and unexpected changes, Deitch anchors himself in the present moment and predicts that this era of the artworld will be characterized by its convergence across all creative fields. Folasade Ologundudu speaks to Deitch about his career spent faciltiating the growth of pioneers, pushing the boundaries of art, exhibition, and community.
rich
tu
For this collaboration between the OG X First Generation Burden (FGB), Rich Tu shares the interview he did with Ben & Bobby Hundreds, who met in Law school and eventually became co-founders of The Hundreds, their community based streetwear brand and media platform. In this conversation, Rich, Ben and Bobby speak about growing up as immigrant children, what inspires and drives them, how to work as a team, and thoughts on the metaverse.
meolody
ehsani
Artist, designer and entrepreneur Melody Ehsani chats with Rich Tu about her Iranian family and the Persian community she grew up in, her spirituality, and reframing traditions in clothing and style, the subtle ways that non-cis male bodies have been erased in the design of so many garments. Her legacy is one of presence: of acknowledging the presence of others, and of honoring her own identity as an artist and creative. What is the legacy we create by being ourselves? "When you enter a room, what happens? How do you change the energy? How do you contribute to the room just by being there, not by being whoever, you know?"
cedric
adams
Cedric Adams spent over two decades working behind the scenes at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). At the age of 68, he's finally being recognized as an artist himself. In "Walking with Giants: Cedric Adams," Breanne Bradley speaks to Adams about the display of his work as part of LACMA's Black American Portraits exhibition, and the many generations of Black artists that he has borne witness to during his lengthy career. Adams speaks of the time when he could barely dream of being recognized as an artist, and the informal community support he found beyond institutions of whiteness that made it possible nevertheless.
marilyn
minter
In this intimate conversation between Marilyn Minter and her muse Jasmine Wahi, the artists talk about "Painting Sexuality" and how the work of creating art of female bodies can be collaborative and inclusive of the subject's agency, moving away from the exploitative and harmful artist-muse relationships that we find ubiquitous in European art history textbooks. Minter and Wahi's conversation delves deep into their friendship, the presence of women in art history, Western standards of beauty, and the act of brazenly painting sexuality.
studio
drift
Founded in 2007 by Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, DRIFT is a studio that is “more like an architecture firm or a tech start up'' than an art studio. DRIFT's work includes experiential sculptures, installations and performances realized as exhibitions and projects around the world created by a flock of 64 multidisciplinary creatives. In this piece by Jenna Mayer, the founders reflect on how their use of technology in art has (somewhat paradoxically) taught them about the importance of respect for nature, the importance of subverting a capitalist system that demands the destruction of natural rhythms and ecosystems.