Rashaad Newsome, "L. egends, S. tatements, S. tars"

Newsome's performances, sculptures and large, ornate collages have infused identity art with hip-hop's boastful, bling-obsessed attitude, examining the way the chase for power and status begins with an individual assertion of ego. He's followed this notion back into history, appropriating, for example, medieval heraldry, which he's likened to rap's taunts. In this show, he pursues the idea into 19th-century Baroque Revival and Beaux Arts architecture, which often incorporated heraldic motifs in keeping with the Gilded Age's over-the-top aesthetics. The works on paper here, some measuring six feet high, live up to the spirit of that era with an intricate iconography of jewelry taken from fashion magazines.