“I use drawing, photography, objects, book and print making, and site-specific interventions, to construct a visual language system out of sub-culture codes and west coast vernacular, economic formalism, text and abstractions. In my work, what is at stake is the gravity of the urban as fantasy, extra-legal economies, luxury as drug, counterfeit capitalism, glitter as hypnotic, outer space as head space, the everyday as gold, family and lived identity experience, and the party.”

Bio:

Sadie Barnette is from Oakland, California. She received her BFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2006, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego.

new mixtape: "UP"



adventures in getting high in space...
DOWNLOAD HERE

I made this mixtape as part of a conversation started in Cauleen Smith's "Speculative Narratives" class at UCSD... and also for all those space-case afro-futurist sci-fi nerdy aliens who identify as such, and those who just - are.

There is a handmade edition of 20 cds, each with 7 small drawings - if you have one of them you can keep the drawings together like a cd book, hang em on the wall, or send one to a friend. If you don't have one you can still see the art I made below... heck, print em out if you want and make your own copy.


















Trax:
1. “Lightworks” J Dilla
2. “Phone Home” Lil Wayne
3. “Synthesizer” Outkast
4. “Fatty’s Day Off” Dave Douglas
5. “Necromancer” Gnarls Barkley
6. “Waken Baken” Wiz Khalifa
7. “Right Now” Devin The Dude
8. “Spaceship” Kanye West
9. “Philadelphia Experiment” The Philadelphia Experiment
10. “I Feel like dying” Lil Wayne
11. “E.T. (Extraterrestrial)” Outkast
12. “I’m New Here” Gil Scott-Heron
13. “Who will survive in America” Kanye West feat. Gil Scott-Heron

News: MURAL project is up! FEB - JUNE 2011

The commissioned mural for Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD, as they celebrate their 40th anniversary, is completed and up! If you are in the San Diego area come check it out.

Located on the outside of the TMC Administration Building, the mural is a 35-foot vinyl photograph which covers the entire wall. As you walk by it looks as if there is an actual street extending through the trees and beyond the administration building. But as you approach the mural the slightly larger-than-life scale, and the impossibility of this urban landscape, begin to disorient and intrigue the passerby. Even after realizing that it is actually a 2-dimensional image, it takes a bit longer to realize that the tan building to the left of the street sign is still a part of the photograph - the white light fixture and tinted glass window exist in the mural image, not in reality. Both buildings are exactly the same color and stucco texture. Anyway, the optical illusion ended up working quite well (if I do say so myself); therefore, it is rather hard to document the experience of seeing it in person. Here are some pictures in which I try to show the illusion as well as the reality.

The piece is simply called "Martin Luther King Blvd. and 37th Street," because the image could be from any urban 'hood. But it is in fact a photo of North Oakland and I like to think of it as a camouflaged portal to home and a stealth Oakland-goes-to-UCSD mission.

























HERE is an interview about the project.