Three of Sol’Savant-garde Call Jah Sol=Jah
with Damali Abrams the Glitter Priestess, King Lucky & Dino Blanche
Three of Sol’Savant-garde Call Jah Sol=Jah
Avant-garde means frontline as in the frontline of a war. It was veterans and survivors of World War 1 that coined the term. They never wanted to return to the violence of international warfare. They focused on culture, ideas and beliefs as the generators of organized violence. Many of the original avant-garde artists rejected European Supremacy and it’s sexism. They sought to undermine their own culture by embracing the aesthetics ideas and cultural practices of the other cultures of the world. By embracing and being inspired by cultures that were derided as primitive these artist found weapons to confront and free themselves of the norms of violence inducing European Supremacist beliefs.

 Unfortunately more than a century later the culture war still rages on. Our President and the ideology broadcast on Fox News are still deeply entrenched in European supremacist beliefs. The type of beliefs the original Avant-garde artists fought using culture instead of violence. 


I have selected three contemporary Avant-garde performers whose strategies and tools I feel are not utilized enough in the avant-garde performance scene:


Dino Blanche presents his meditative ball performance discipline. Born out of his lifetime study of Asian art and culture, through the lens of martial arts, Dino has developed a practice that makes it clear the only real enemy is imbalance. His work with the large exercise ball is magical and symbolic of both the internal and external struggle to find balance.


Damali Abrams The Glitter Priestess presents the almost pan cultural expression of the Mermaid. She takes the familiar popular expression of the Mermaid as a cute image to engage the fantasies of little girls and marries it to the very adult practice of Afro-Caribbean ritual and prayer. Her work uses glitter to bridge the spiritually empty Disney representations of Mermaids to the rich African spiritual tradition of celebrating the ocean as being the mother of all life and the oceans deep relationship with all womanhood.
King Lucky is an old school NYC Culture Soldier.
Using the traditional Avant-garde expression called Hip-Hop. There is no modern cultural expression that has not been impacted by Hip Hop culture. Hip-Hop has been the most successful Avant-garde expression of the last 40yrs. King Lucky is one of the original Beatboxers which is one of the essential five elements of Hip-Hop. He uses his body as a weapon to create his cultural agency through not only abstract musical sound but by combining Beatboxing with Rapping. With what he calls Beatrhyming he is able to voice his vision in the Hip-Hop tradition.
THE CALL JAH SOL=JAH SOL'SAX [NYC]
The Call Jah Sol=Jah Sol'Sax is A Free King, A Merry King of Kings County. In 1969 he was born to become Good God Almighty, Burning Bush Man of Bushwick. He was Tri-State educated in The Old School ways. He always matriculated with honors and earned The title: The All See Street Dreaded IllumiNatty, Yale's Lock Jaw Warlock. Sol'Sax also holds Degrees from several Schools Of Hard Knocks including Bellevue and Rikers.
Sol'Sax has been seen breakdancing on MTV in 1984 and was a Party Crasher on The Cosby Show in 1987. In 1989 Sol'Sax studied Zen stone carving in Berlin. On the first day Sol'Sax visited East Berlin, The Berlin Wall Fell.
In 1991 Sol'Sax was initiated into The Mysteries of Traditional African Culture and has made art work that celebrates African Traditional Culture and it's African American retentions till now. His work has been shown at well known venues and collected internationally. Danny Simmons of Rush Arts has said that Sol'Sax is the Greatest Artist of his Generation.
DAMALI ABRAMS THE GLITTER PRIESTESS [NYC]
Damali Abrams the Glitter Priestess is a New York City based artist and educator whose magical work travels around the United States and around the world. Her collages, videos, performances, and writings create portals, cast spells, and explore various forms of Black Utopia.
Damali attended the Whitney Independent Study Program, earned her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and her BA from New York University.
 
Damali is the recipient of a 2019 QCA grant and is a current Culture Push Fellow for Utopian Practice. Damali has also been a fellow at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, A.I.R. Gallery, and apexart in Seoul, South Korea. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Fresh Milk in Barbados, Groundation Grenada, The Center for Book Arts, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, and LMCC on Governors Island.
 
Damali has presented her work at School of Visual Arts (SVA), Sonoma State University, Soho House, UConn Stamford, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), Barbados Community College, New York University, SUNY Purchase, Hunter College School of Social Work, and Syracuse University’s 601 Tully.
 
Damali’s work has been exhibited at The Queens Museum, El Museo del Barrio, MoCADA, Rush Arts Gallery, Longwood Gallery, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, JCAL, and The Point. Her writing has appeared on the blogs of art21, Fresh Milk, and Groundation Grenada.
damaliabramsart.com
DINO BLANCHE [NYC]
Dino Blanche has practiced martial arts for 38 years. He teaches Tai
Chi, Liu He Ba Fa (The Six Cooperation Eight Methods), Shin Yi, Wing
Chun, and Jujitsu. He is the founder of a new martial art training method 
called R.G.T. (Reverse Gravity Training).
He has a Bachelors of Fine
Arts Degree from Parsons School of Design. He has traveled to the South 
of France where he studied the ancient cave paintings of Paleolithic man. 
He was awarded numerous artist residences including those sponsored by
 Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, Long Arts Project, The Fashion
 Institute of Technology, The Bronx Council on the Arts, and the
 Guggenheim Museum. He is co-designer of an award winning arts and
 education program for New York City Public High School Students at the 
Cooper Union College recognized by the Lila Wallace/Reader Digest 
Foundation. He has lectured at the Brooklyn College, Parsons School of 
Design, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science, the
 Gary Null Support Group, The Partnership for After School Education 
and The Lewis H Latimer House Museum.
He is currently the President 
of Laughing River LLC, a company providing quality programming in
martial arts and arts education to exclusive groups, private institutions, 
and individuals.
KING LUCKY [NYC]
Kid Lucky is a vocal sound artist who uses the voice to create sonic pictures and invoke various emotions to the listener. Kid Lucky specializes in beatboxing, floetry and scatting. Since 1996 Kid Lucky has been considered one of the most cuttting edge vocalists in the world.
In 1996 he formed his first all vocal band called Real Conscious Venue with two friends. After that he formed another group called Urban Chants. Kid Lucky spent the next few years developing his vocal craft and presenting it all over New York City.
He moved to Prague for two years in 2008 and there he developed a vocal style he calls BEATRHYMING - beatboxing and rhyme flow at the same time. Kid Lucky's vocal style is a combination of four different vocal techniques into one, beatboxing, spoken word, scatting, and Tuvan throat singing. Combined, these four techniques are the foundation for beatrhyming.
Kid Lucky is a master improviser who has been improvising since 1996. He has trained in free jazz from masters such as Sabir Mateen, David Pleasant, Daniel Carter, Mem Nahader, Meg Montgomery and Butch Morris. He has worked with hip hop freestyle masters such as MC Supernatural, Rahzel, Doug E Fresh, Baba Israel, Hired Gun, Lin Manuel, Breeze Evahflowin, Akim Funk Buddha. He has collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Cleve Douglas, Vernon Reid, Melvin Gibbs, JT Lewis, Amayo.
He has collaborated with video artists such as Bill Etra, Brandon Emerick, Missy Galore, Bec Stupac, and more all improvised.
He has worked with Visual artists Fly (peops) Eric Drooker (Flood, illuminating Poems)
Meres (5 pointz founder), Sol Sax, Suprina sculpt, and others by providing a improvised vocal art soundscapes to help create moods for their art pieces and installations.
Kid Lucky's live vocal sound art installations have been presented in The Anehiem Convention Center, Madison Square Garden, The Rock The Bells Tour, Webster Hall, Lincoln Center, Joe's Pub, Manhattan Center, P.S. 122, NYC Subway, Overseas he has presented his vocal sound art exhibitions at Archa Theater in Prague, Czech Republic, Contact Theater in Manchester, England, Mama's Shelter in Paris, France and more! Kid Lucky's vocal sound art installations have appeared on MTV, Vh1, BET, ESPN, MTV2, NBC with Cat Greenleaf, Fuse TV and more. All improvised.
His vocal skills have been used to for acting in commercials and film he has worked with Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Cee Lo Green in the movie Begin Again. He has appeared in the award winning Children TV series The Electric Company with Shockwave. He was the lead feature for beatboxing in a MTV series called Hip Hop Elements.
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Grace, n. - simple elegance or refinement of movement
Grace Period - an extended period granted as a special favor
The Three Graces (Greek Mythology) - charm, grace, and beauty
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