I had the pleasure of representing Cedric Smith in my galley, Eclectic Connection, several years ago. He is one of the nicest artists I have had the opportunity to work with. I loved his art then and I love it now. I can’t get enough of that Funky Stuff!
Cedric Smith was born in Philadelphia in 1970. He grew up in Thomaston, Georgia, where he moved with his family when he was a young boy. He currently resides in Savannah, Ga.
Smith is a self taught artist who while eschewing the “so-called rules of art”, has created a personal genre of work. Smith started painting postage stamps with images of African Americans after hearing a line from Public Enemy front man Chuck D: “most of our heroes don’t appear on no stamps.” Later, he moved to painting magazine covers and now, he focuses on vintage-looking advertisements, calling attention to the lack of Black representation in advertising. He draws on a wide range of influences and sources, both traditional and contemporary, and which include landscape art, pop art, brand advertising and photography to express his poignant observations of life in the rural south. A prolific artist, Cedric works with a honed discipline on his compositions, seamlessly morphing photographic images into his richly textured pieces, applying and removing layers and lettering.
Cedric has a blog called Vintage Blood, where he posts new paintings and stunning photographs along with his vintage finds. Please visit Cedric Smith and his art at CedricSmith.com
What??? Looks like champagne, pours like champagne, tastes like champagne! But it cost PENNIES more than beer! Yeah right! This ad was straight from Madison Ave…or maybe Harlem…Ad executives went further to suggest that Champale would taste better served in a stemmed glass. LOL!!! Well, actually it did if you were around during the 1970’s.
In the 1970’s, Pink and Sparkling Champale was an integral part of pop culture and a major hit in the Black community. It was my drink of choice at an age when I shouldn’t have been drinkin’. Decades later, even JayZ, Ghostface and the Beastie Boys added a line or two about Pink Champale in their lyrics.
“Grandma dressed me, plus she fed me banana puddin’, what’s in the hood then Puffin on L’s, drinkin’ pink champelle.” Jay Z – Mama Loves Me – The Blueprint
“Begosh all that Oshkosh jumpers / Pink Champale, brown paper bags, wall to wall bumpers.” Ghostface Killah – Wu-Tang’s Careful Click Click
“I got class like pink Champale.” The Beastie Boys -Ch-Check It Out – To The 5 Boroughs.
What was so cool and hip about Sparkling Champale and Pink Champale was the ads. The ads that ran in Ebony magazine were sexy and featured sexy looking Black folks drinking this malt liquor. You thought it was Champagne and you had to have some because it was cheap.
The Museum of UnCut Funk found a number of the original ads that ran in Ebony magazine.
The Museum of UnCut Funk has a warm spot in our collection for Vintage Black Advertising Memorabilia and we have a few HAMBONE pieces as a part of our collection. Whether it be crate labels, tins or posters we collect it all for the both the historical and artistic value of the items. We feel it is important to understand the racist and stereotypical way that Blacks have been portrayed in product advertising throughout history. HAMBONE is one of the many caricatures that personifies racists advertising from the last century.
Hambone was the nickname of Tom Hunley, a folk-wisdom spouting ex-slave who lived in Greenwood Mississippi. Hunley was interviewed late in his life by a young Memphis editorial cartoonist James Pinckney Alley “J.P.”
Alley who was taken by Hunley’s humorously philosophical tone, and turned the old man’s pithy observations on life into a syndicated illustrated column called “Hambone’s Meditations” which debuted in 1916 and was soon followed by two books. When J.P. died in 1934, his son Calvin took over his work, and the Hambone character continued in newspapers until 1968.
Starting in the late 1920’s, two different cigar companies (over time, not at once) were licensed to market cheap cigars under the character’s name and Alley’s illustration. The image on the cigar box label is a satire on Lindberg’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic ocean.
Source: Cigar History.info
