Post #503102 by JOHN-O on Fri, Jan 8, 2010 5:33 PM

OK, so let's move the discussion from high-brow art to low-brow art.

As a young boy in the early 1970's, my family used to visit relatives in L.A.'s (primarily African American) Crenshaw district. I remember driving by businesses which had black velvet paintings displayed out on the sidewalk. The subject matter wasn't Polynesian wahines but rather large-buxomed Black women with huge afros. I'm sure there were other "Black Power" and African themes but I just remember the cheesecake. :)

Here's a "vintage" example that I saw on Ebay going for $500. Pretty cool Exotica, huh? (Although I question whether this painting is really that old. The date of creation was listed as 1970-1989 !!)

It is a nice kitschy change of pace from all of the white Jungle girls we've seen so far. We need more Black exotica girls !!. Here's Pam Grier in a rare non-urban role (And wearing the leopard skin no less. Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

The vintage stuff would be almost 4 decades old by now so I wonder how much of it survived.

I'd love to see this specific genre of velvet art comprehensively documented somewhere.