iPadology/Abstract Impressions/AI: Mansa K. Mussa

iPadology/Abstract Impressions/AI: Mansa K. Mussa

June 14-28, 2024
Cornerstone Café, located on the Lower Level

Before there was Artificial Intelligence, there was Abstract Impressionism, or, as my late friend the artist Gerardo (Gerry) Castro called it, Ancestral Intelligence.

Over the past ten years, I’ve developed a digital collage technique called iPadology, in essence, Abstract Impressions. It utilizes the iPad to create a style of gestural layering using dance figures, still photographs, jazz musicians, flora, paper, text, art, and architecture. The goal is to manipulate the photographic image with broad strokes, little touches, and small flourishes that give the art new meaning and purpose. This exhibit represents a survey of the abstract photographic images I’ve created with the iPad over the past ten years.

My first camera was Polaroid’s venerable SX 70, and I still need instant images. The iPad changed my life because it allowed me to create dynamic images instantly and edit and instantly share them.

What I love the most about this medium is that I still get to do what I imagined as a little kid: to take the “normal” photographs and use collage techniques to create something abstractly different than what they appear to be.

See Inside the Exhibition
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Mansa Mussa, "Earth Angels," 2023, Mixed Media Collage.
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Mansa Mussa, "On Green," 2024, iPadology

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mansa K. Mussa is a fascinating life-long multi-disciplinary artist who has explored various artistic mediums. He has worked professionally as a photographer, collagist, dancer, graphic designer, percussionist, fiber artist, and curator, showcasing his versatility and adaptability in the artistic world.

His art is currently on display in three exhibits:  Threads, at The Heidi Gallery in Livingston, Strangers in a Strange Land, at The Gallery at TSTI, South Orange, and Stronger Than Steel: The Senator Wynona Lipman Story at the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark (curator). 

The museum educator taught at the Newark Museum of Art for thirty years and currently teaches at MAM, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in Summit, N.J.

In November he travels to Havana, to Cuba to exhibit in the 15th Havana Biennial’s Shared Vision international exhibition. This exciting opportunity will allow a wider audience to experience his art and the unique iPadology technique. 

The artist can be contacted at [email protected]

www.mansamussa.com