Source: @spotify / Spotify
A new art exhibition in collaboration with Spotify highlighted women in Hip-Hop including Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and GloRilla.
The enormous contribution of women to Hip-Hop culture is undeniable, and a new art exhibition in New York City put that on display. The Gold Standard is an exhibition of artwork by Manon Biernacki paying homage to the prominent women rappers of the day. The rappers featured are Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, GloRilla, Ice Spice, Latto, Doja Cat, the City Girls, Saweetie, Sexyy Red, and Flo Milli. Their countenances are portrayed in larger-than-life fashion in paintings imbued with Biernacki’s Renaissance-inspired vision. An Instagram post by the streaming platform’s Hip-Hop entity RapCaviar announced the exhibition earlier in July, proclaiming it was highlighting “the Golden Era of women in Hip-Hop.”
The Gold Standard was hosted in a one-day-only exhibition on Wednesday (July 31) at The Hole gallery space in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City. Visitors to the free exhibit were greeted with a lavish table set up for a feast as they walked in, with mirrors hanging on the wall to their right adorned with the words “Feelin’ Myself” where they could take selfies. Each female rapper was represented with a lush painting of themselves in the gallery, accompanied by a biography of their life and career.
The exhibit’s centerpiece was “The Cloud Room”, a separate area of the gallery covered in trimmings that resembled lush clouds that harkened back to the famous Sistine Chapel artwork of Michaelangelo with a painting featuring all of the artists seated together in the rear of the room. Guests could also take photos in that setting while seated in chairs fixed in front of that painting. They were also able to snag flyers with reprints of each artist’s painting which contained a code on the back that when scanned, took them to that artist’s playlist on Spotify.
For Biernacki, having the opportunity to contribute to the art comprising The Gold Standard is a realization of her inner passion. In a statement, the Mali-born artist who now resides in Vancouver, Canada said: “As an artist with a rich cultural background, I am passionate about celebrating the origins and stories of diverse female artists. Projects like The Gold Standard series allow me to honor and uplift voices that resonate with my own experiences and heritage.”