Born in 1977, Kalup Linzy is a video and performance artist whose work largely consists of serialized narratives that use soap-opera conventions to explore aspects of American pop culture and subculture. Linzy plays the majority of the characters himself, assuming stereotypical roles--often from the black, gay, and art communities--with the help of wigs and costumes. … (read more)

Born in 1977, Kalup Linzy is a video and performance artist whose work largely consists of serialized narratives that use soap-opera conventions to explore aspects of American pop culture and subculture. Linzy plays the majority of the characters himself, assuming stereotypical roles--often from the black, gay, and art communities--with the help of wigs and costumes.

In his melodramatic love stories or assorted family dramas such as All My Churen (2003), Linzy appropriates these mainstream frameworks to subversive effect. Spare production value and a slight disjunction between lip movement and speech are characteristic of his early work, though his videos have since gained a more professional sheen.

Many of his videos has been made available on YouTube, blurring the lines between high and low art. Linzy’s most recent works, including his 2008 Sweetberry Sonnets album/series, satirize music videos and aspects of pop music, exploring these mediums with the same sense of humor and social observation.

Click here to read a review of Linzy's 2009 retrospective at the Studio Museum in Harlem [via The New York Times]

Watch music videos from Linzy's Sweetberry Sonnets:

Watch excerpts from a forthcoming documentary on Linzy's work featuring interviews with Thelma Golden, chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and Dan Cameron, director and curator of Prospect 1, New Orleans [via the artist's page on YouTube]: 

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