Minneapolis

As is the nature of trends, things have gone rather quiet in the realms of rap ever since the hype machine, of which aqnb is inescapably a cog, ceased on that so-called ‘weird’ strain of hip hop, across the likes of Mykki Blanco, Zebra Katz and Riff Raff. That’s not say there isn’t still some good stuff out there and here’s Detroit-born, Minneapolis based Lizzo as an example.

A throwback to the fun and ridiculous rap of the likes of Missy Elliot, who was probably getting her start when Lizzo was a toddler, ‘Batches & Cookies feat. Sophia Eris’ confuses the potential innuendo of “cookies and cream” across some brilliantly bouncing old school samples from her forthcoming album LIZZOBANGERS, out on Totally Gross National Product, November 4. **

Legendary Iranian-born, US-based artist and sculptor Siah Armajani is presenting a landmark exhibition of his key works opening this week at London’s Parasol Unit, until December 15.

Siah Armajani - Wall (detail), 1958. Courtesy of the artist and Beam Contemporary Art, New York, London. Photograph by Larry Marcus. — Siah Armajani – Wall (detail), 1958. Courtesy of the artist and Beam Contemporary Art, New York, London. Photograph by Larry Marcus.

This will be the first major UK survey of the Iran-born, American artist who is internationally renowned for his extensive public art commissions, which include bridges, reading rooms and poetry gardens. Curated by Parasol Unit founder and director Ziba Ardalan “An ingenious World” is willing to trace the artist’s early works on paper, made in Iran during the late 1950s, to his mature works, including his most recent structure, the Alfred Whitehead Reading Room, 2013, specifically created for the outdoor space at Parasol unit, London.

Armajani is responsible for controversial 2005 work ‘Fallujah’, a modern take on Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ pointing to the senseless bloodshed that took place in the city during the Iraq war and the possibilities for reworking and giving new meaning to past art. Not surprisingly, memory features strongly in his work.

See the Parasol Unit website for more information and an interview between Armajani and Serpentine Gallery’s Hans Ulrich last year, on how close he came to getting a lobotomy after moving to the US. **

Lizzo – ‘Batches & Cookies feat. Sophia Eris’

Siah Armajani: An Ingenious World @ Parasol Unit – London

Siah Armajani @ Parasol Unit in September