ESSENTIAL EVENT // THIS SUNDAY: Christopher Rini And BBOX Radio Team Up For Beastie, Biggie, And Beyond
Oct 28, 2011 
Back during our Wind-Up mixer in June, artist and 3rd Ward member Christopher Rini met the folks at BBOX Radio. They both enjoyed each other's work, and four months later they're collaborating on Biggie, Beasties, and Beyond, an exhibition at BBOX Radio. It opens this Sunday, October 30 at 5pm with a lively mix of music and art.
Hit the jump to learn more about Rini's work and the exhibition.
For the show's inspiration, Rini turned toward to two landmark Brooklyn albums, the Beastie Boys' Licensed To Ill and Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready To Die. "I picked two iconic albums that have aged in complex ways," he says. "The Beastie's debut LP featured fold out album art, which I used to love as a kid, so I took the opportunity to address the entire image, with all of its 21st century implications. It's a joke from the past that now has a sense of foreboding."
"The Biggie piece is similar, though with a more somber, final tone," he adds. "The stark composition no longer announces the arrival of arguably the best MC we've ever heard. His predictions, boasts and stories are all we have left. The text that once announced his name and boasted of his fearlessness, now simply mark his entry and exit from the world."
Rini renders these images using "wood stained glass," a style he's been exploring and honing since 2009. "It involves mostly industrial items, where the wood is engraved & burned, and then stained & dyed, usually with a polyurethane finish," he explains.
Taking up a musical theme is natural, as Rini's long been an active musician, playing with Brooklyn's The=Equation for over a decade. During Sunday's opening he'll play drums with a new group, Resonance & Behavior, who'll be making their live debut. "The instrumentation is all electronic, drums, piano and cello, and our repertoire includes Chopin, Philip Glass, Portishead and a few original compositions by our cellist, Elizabeth Glushko," he says.
Check out Biggie, Beasties, and Beyond this Sunday at BBOX Radio, which is located at the Dekalb Market. It starts at 5pm and the music kicks off at 6pm. Rini's artwork will stay up through November 9.
-- John Ruscher
