March 8, 2021
The Department of Fine Arts presents an artist talk with Los Angeles-based artist Kori Newkirk, supported by the Forst Endowed Visiting Artist Program.
Kori Newkirk creates mixed media artworks often inspired from cast-off objects found in his local environs of downtown Los Angeles. By using unpredictable materials such as pony beads, pomade and hair extensions, Newkirk astounds us by articulating complex ideas about our cultural memory. Newkirk’s provocative works, inflected and informed by his African-American heritage, poignantly remind us of our racist inhumanity. Newkirk continually reinvents his practice, rethinking cultural notions of beauty, exploring issues of narcissism, celebrity and spectacle in the political arena, and taking his practice into new unexpected directions.