Ruffneck Constructivists

Author: Craig L. Wilkins, Kara Walker
Publisher: Dancing Foxes Press/Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania
Year: 2014
Pages: 96
ISBN: 978-0985337742

Ruffneck Constructivists, published to accompany a group exhibition curated by artist Kara Walker for the ICA Philadelphia, brings together 11 international artists in order to define a contemporary manifesto of urban architecture and change. Inspired by both the Russian Constructivists and MC Lyte’s 1993 hit song “Ruffneck,” the phrase “Ruffneck Constructivists” evokes thuggishness as an expression of abjection. As Walker states, “Ruffneck Constructivists are defiant shapers of environments. Whatever their gender affiliation, Ruffnecks go hard when all around them they see weakness, softness, compromise, sermonizing, poverty, and lack; they don’t change the world through conscious actions, instead they build themselves into the world one assault at a time.” The book features sculpture, photography and video by the artists Dineo Seshee Bopape, Kendell Geers, Arthur Jafa, Jennie C. Jones, Kahlil Joseph, Deana Lawson, Rodney McMillian, Pope.L, Tim Portlock, Lior Shvil, and Szymon Tomsia.