Previous Exhibitions

The worlds of music and art intersect in this exhibition by Rashidi Barrett. This Norfolk-based visual artist, beatmaker, DJ and instrumentalist has built his career at the nexus between visual art, music and performance. For Barrett, “music is both a medium used to create and an integral tool” in his paintings. For this exhibition, the artist has created paintings and music to be listened to and viewed simultaneously.

Artist Rashidi Barrett is also a beat maker and musician known as DJ Cornbread. After collecting jazz for more than a decade and making compilations for his friends, Rashidi Barrett took his DJ career to new levels in 2005. He currently resides in Norfolk and plays all over the US and abroad.

If you would like to know more about Rashidi Barrett a.k.a DJ Cornbread please visit the following websites: www.rashidibarrett.com or http://djcornbread.podomatic.com.

Read more in the MOCA Gallery Guide.

Click here to listen to AUDIO tour files associated with this exhibit.

1/28/2013 In response to recent news regarding Rashidi Barrett:

MOCA is committed to fostering awareness, understanding and exploration of the significant art of our time. The museum considers it part of our mission to provide local and regional artists a venue to show their work. Through our different programs and galleries we worked with over 1700 artists in the last year alone. Rashidi Barrett had an exhibit in the Community Gallery at MOCA, a small space reserved for emerging local artists in the summer of 2012. MOCA’s inclusivity of young and emerging artists is essential to promoting arts and culture within Hampton Roads and for our current generation of artists. MOCA affords these artists the opportunity to work with a professional museum staff and to exhibit in a museum as a way of educating and promoting professional art practices. MOCA does not condone the actions of any artist who decides to outright copy the work of another and would not have shown Mr. Barrett if we were aware of his actions. 

MOCA makes every effort to promote best practices and standards for artists and museums. Our staff believes in the amazing artistic talent found in Hampton Roads and will not allow the actions of a single artist to prevent us continuing to promote other local and regional artists. Instead, we wish to take this opportunity to create a constructive conversation regarding appropriation and contemporary art. We are leaving the critic’s corner open to encourage that dialogue and will create more programming to further discuss this issue.