Music
by CuZns
(William T Roper & Bobby Bradford)
Mail Art
The Crown
by Alicia Brown
about the art
This month music improvisers CuZns and visual artist Alicia Brown draw on popular and historical culture to create art that’s deeply symbolic yet full of wit.
CuZns is a duo of multidisciplinary artist and tubist William Roper and Bobby Bradford, one of LA’s great elders of improvised music. In a film where kitchen table conversation meets live radio broadcast, the two weave together music and storytelling in a quick-witted style of improvisation that only longtime collaborators can manage. From casual conversation to a giant cow femur made into a horn, we follow the duo through a sprawling stream of consciousness of cornet, tuba, singing, and speaking, with nods to historical culture, cross-genre music, and the Black American experience.
Visual artist Alicia Brown paints portraits that highlight the influences of history, colonialism, social status, and cultural identity trends especially of people from the Caribbean region. In her paintings, figures are adorned with natural and everyday objects shaped into crowns and collars that reference those worn by European aristocrats during the Renaissance. These reimagined historical motifs are juxtaposed with the figure to create surreal, magical, and poignant narratives.
Together, these artists spark potent connections between their identities and the dominant culture that invite us to pause and examine the world more closely.