BOOK:Don’t Piss Down My Leg And Tell Me It’s Raining,SUN Publications

Corey Presha in “Don’t Piss Down My Leg And Tell Me It’s Raining” explores the legacy of outward and internalized racism in the history of American life, as well as the endurance and pervasiveness of this racism spread through culture and media in present-day society. Presha’s paintings are inherently tied to and derived from history, with his recent body of work a response to the 2017 election and the current socio-cultural climate in America. Sourcing imagery from postcards, found materials, and Black Americana imagery from the early 20th century on eBay, Presha is exploring the history of outward and internalized racism in American history, specifically how it is adopted in culture, media, and is still incredibly prevalent in contemporary society.  Painting with black paint on white canvases, Presha adopts stark contracts of positive and negative space, furthering the themes present within his work, while his minimal aesthetic also referencing the visual language of his original source materials and plays with the high/low contrasts of art, culture, and representation.–Dimitris Lempesis