September 14 - October 1, 2016

at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA

After Pop Life is an exhibition and event series inspired by the late musical genius and cultural force of Prince, whose untimely passing earlier this year marked a moment of tremendous loss, but also appreciation of his gifts to culture. With works by more than thirty contemporary artists, the exhibition honors the pervasiveness of Prince’s legacy and how his prodigious musical output and indelible personal style seem more alive than ever. The project will activate two galleries in the Minnesota Street Project complex with artworks that are at once thoughtful, playful, and of course, sexy.

Organized by critic and curator Glen Helfand, the exhibition pays tribute to Prince as a multitalented figure who not only wrote, recorded and performed his music, but also made films, fostered and supported other artists, designed clothes, and was a generous, humble philanthropist, particularly in the Bay Area. Less a memorial than a tribute to how many lives Prince touched, how many dance floors he activated, and how his work provided the soundtrack to meaningful moments in so many lives, the show probes how certain pop stars seep deeply into our consciousness—we each own him in our own way. Those who revere Prince, in a sense, appropriate an aspect of The Artist.  The exhibition celebrates and considers his actions and ideas of an astoundingly generous performer, who was also presciently, steadfastly in control of the ownership of his music and visual style.

“Of course the music is the starting point,” says Helfand. “The passion flt for Prince, not to mention his highly defined visual aesthetic—and all that purple—make him such a compelling, inspiring figure. His presence brings up so many issues, big topics like sexuality, race, and belief, but his work also offers such unfettered pleasure Prince brings so many people together. I was so struck to find out just the incredible range of artists who were so deeply affected by his passing.”