group show 49
I Love Kanye

My Kanye West fandom begin with the release of his first album, The College Dropout. The album title resonated with me, as I had just dropped out of Temple University a month earlier to pursue a career as a B.boy and magazine publisher. This was back in 2004 when gangster rap dominated the music industry. Music celebrating "clothes, bankrolls and hoes" can be entertaining, but I needed more. I had just quit college, I needed motivation to pursue my dreams and to believe that all would be OK. I was also searching for meaning, passion and conviction. The alternatives of the day were just about "gettn money" by any means. I was not inspired, nor was I learning anything. The College Dropout encouraged me to defy expectations. The same is true for his subsequent albums and lasting pop cultural influence.

Miranda Maynard "problematizes the Left’s disregard" for what she sees as "Kardashian-West-feminism, while maintaining an awareness of what it lacks." Mitchell Barton, inspired by West's "We Don't Care," makes work on his own terms. Emily Larsen saw our open call as a challenge to make new photographs of items around her studio. Beth Herzhaft's images depict "a sense of idealism, humor and anxiety." Finally, Laura Glabman diagnosis West with "Half Man, Half Amazing Syndrome."

I Love Kanye casts Mr. West as a metaphor for something beyond his music. It is what his life represents as a reflection of contemporary culture. A life, much like ours, consisting of contradictions, imperfections and hypocrisy. 

– Amani Olu. Co-Founder, Humble Arts Foundation