Chicago native Wasalu Jaco is better known by his alias Lupe Fiasco, the name he's used as a hip-hop artist since his 2006 debut Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor. But Jaco is also an avid painter—he created the cover art for his 2015 release Tetsuo & Youth and presented his first art exhibition at Anonymous Gallery in New York City in 2013.
Now, Jaco is preparing to exhibit his latest collection of paintings in the city he calls home, bringing a new exhibition called "Beta" to the Ed Paschke Art Center in Jefferson Park. The exhibit is made of up acrylic paintings on canvas, which depict colorful geometric patterns and the artist's signature memento mori skull. "Beta" will open at the Ed Paschke Art Center on September 23 and run through November 30. "The themes I explore are perfectly suited for the art center's mission to provide an accessible, open space for emerging artists," Jaco said in a statement about the exhibit.
Outside of his new exhibit, Jaco is currently at work on a trilogy of Lupe Fiasco albums that he has claimed will be his final releases. All three records, entitled DROGAS, DROGAS light and SKULLS, are scheduled to be released by the end of the year, though they have not been assigned release dates.
