Guest Lecture: Sherwin Banfield – ‘Hip Hop and Public Art’

Artist Sherwin Banfield (@SherwinTheArtist) discusses his public art projects dedicated to hip- hop culture-shifters that reflect and uplift their community. These sculptural “Monuments” are inspired by his story and influences.

BIO

Sherwin Banfield is a Queens-based New York mixed-media artist whose recent sculptural work attempts to explore journeys of identity and ancestry. His creative practice tends to deconstruct the imaginative and physical journey of identity within the human experience. While exploring the journey of his selected subject, he seeks to draw a connection between their personal stories and established culture, frequently imposing mythological and imaginative ideas as accessories. His portrait busts and figurative works are expressions of mood, meant to draw out an inner identity. Accompanying each sculpture are accessories of light, sound, and/or cultural references that hyper-realize this identity to complement the organic design of their facial, cranial, and anatomical structures. The goal with each work is to create a projection of attitude and aura, as well as to showcase the multi-dimensional contributions of these music industry legends. Banfield’s recent public sculpture, Going Back to the Meadows, fuses the identity of Queens hip- hop legend LL Cool J with his musical legacy into a sculptural “Illumination” or sonic “Monument.”