Art Beats + Lyrics (AB+L) took over Navy Pier’s Aon Grand Ballroom this past Friday. The traveling show, which originated in Atlanta in 2004, showcased emerging and established Chicago artists in the visual arts and hip-hop communities.
While traveling the country, AB+L gives Black artists national exposure. This year’s tour kicked off in Philadelphia on Sept. 12 before making it to the shores of Lake Michigan on Oct. 17 for the tour’s second stop. AB+L will make stops in Houston, Oakland, Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York City this year.
Dwayne “Dubelyoo” Wright, AB+L curator, is an artist who participated in the first show in 2004. Since then, his role has grown within the art tour, helping to create the magic every year.
“When we first started out, it was mostly just our friends and all that,” Wright told The TRiiBE. “But over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with artists from all over the world.”
Wright said the AB+L tour lives to inspire the people who come out. The Aon Grand Ballroom, an 80-foot domed building with panoramic views of Lake Michigan, was filled with good looking Black people dressed in their flyest ensembles. Images depicting the beauty of the Black experience surrounded the ballroom floor.
“This may be the first time some people go to an art show,” Wright said. “So if it’ll be the first time, we want it to be something that you remember and feel inspired when you leave to go home and create your own work or support the people in your communities.”
South Side visual artist Eddie “Edo” Santana participated in the art show. His piece, an acrylic painting on a canvas surface titled “Simple Pleasures,” is a look into his classic unique abstract style and use of bright eye-popping colors.
Santana explained what it meant to have Arts Beats + Lyrics continue to move the culture forward. “It means everything,” he said. “You get a lot of different nationalities, different races, coming together to experience music, to experience art, which, to me, all kind of coincides within the same creative space.”
James Nelson is another Chicago artist whose work was featured, including an acrylic and African patterned fabric collage on canvas titled “Solace.” He hails from the West Side, and his art speaks to African roots and beauty. “There’s an Afro-futuristic kind of a feel to it,” he said, speaking about his own artwork. “It’s more like our migration back to Africa, because that’s what I’ve always wanted and desired.”
While Chicagoans have been dealing with militarized federal agents in their neighborhoods and a nationwide government shutdown, AB+L served as a way for the community to come together, and celebrate what makes us different.
“It gives exposure to the arts,” said 36-year-old attendee Brittany Talbert, who teaches History and Advanced Placement African American Studies at a local high school.
“A lot of times Black people specifically are left out of the art conversation in terms of like mainstream, but it’s important,” Talbert said. “It gives us a sense of pride. It reminds us of our heritage, of our culture, how influential we are, and also it’s an opportunity for us to commune with one another, I love it.”
The Chicago tour stop also featured a performance from The Cool Kids, the Chicago hip-hop duo credited as major influences and pioneers of the rap genre’s “Blog Era” during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The group just released their new album, Hi Top Fade.
