Janette Beckman Hip-Hop Mashup 2014 | Ask a New Yorker

July 18, 2014

Last night marked the first of Pop-Up Art Event’s Artist Salon Series–gatherings for artists and connoisseurs to view, discuss and collaborate on a variety of artistic projects. Titled Janette Beckman Hip-Hop Mashup 2014, the show featured a range of graffiti based artists who created original works over Beckman’s iconic shots of Hip-Hop’s early stars.

The range of work was impressive. One could ask five people which piece they favored and get five different answers. From Revolt’s familiar UltraMagnetic MCs, to the young tattoo artist Eric Adams’s smart and simplistic take on Flavor Flav to Greg Lamarche’s installation tribute to Big Daddy Kane–featuring a blunt, two jars of peanut butter, a little baggie of white stuff and a picture of Ulysses S. Grant among other things–each piece spoke the same language with it’s own unique voice.

At 6pm, when the event was marked to begin, a small group were gathered in Beckman’s spacious apartment exploring the fresh work on the walls. The distinct style of each piece was unified by the legendary photographer behind them all. Beckman is an accomplished documentary photographer who got her start on the British punk scene in the 70’s before seamlessly moving to New York’s hip-hop culture of the 1980’s and 90’s. The diversity and power of her work is noticed quickly within her apartment where immediately to the right of the front door one finds the original photo of The Police from the cover of their debut album Outlandos D’Amour and once turned to the left a snowboard whose center bares a picture of Salt n Peppa.

Aside from the spectacular work on the walls, guests were greeted with excellent drink including beer from LIC’s Rockaway Brewery and delicious sparkling moscato from Myx Fusions. Their as well were notebooks and sharpies on the tables so everyone could throw down their tag. Even the group of people the show was attended by was a great mix of personalities, all seemingly with an interesting story to tell. Like Dinco D, an original member of Leaders of the New School, an early hip-hop group that also included Busta Rhymes.

By seven the place was booming. The crowd exploded to triple digits and with it the three masterminds behind the show quieted the group in order to properly introduce the work. Alongside Beckman were Juliet Silva-Yee, founder of Pop-Up Art Event, and Cey Adams, an originator of the early hip-hop art style who has done it all.

Cey and Beckman, who have been friendly since the 80’s, coordinated the concept before connecting with Silva-Yee whose Pop-Up Art Event made the idea a reality. The three obviously worked well together as the culmination of their efforts was outstanding.

Selected photos contributed by Jessica Pettiway

If you are interested in seeing the work of these artists, many are featured in an ongoing show at Museum of the City of New York called City as Canvas.

Below you’ll find the name of each artist featured in the show followed by the photo they worked on.

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