Newsome’s “Dance of the Succubus”, 2012. I don’t want to ruin the surprise of seeing “Shade Compositions” tomorrow night.

Rashaad Newsome’s “Shade Compostions” with costumes by Alexander Wang will cost the price of admission to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art tomorrow, Thursday October 4, at 9 p.m.. “Shade Compostions” is a portrait of some mannerisms of women of color, performed by “local women artists and also drag performers” (SFMoMA). The piece premiered at Manhattan’s The Kitchen in 2009, and each subsequent performance has been has been tailored to the city it is in, with performers and the context they bring. With San Franciscan performers, “this presentation of the piece meditates on the changing footprint of the African American community in the Bay Area and on the way queer culture has drawn sustenance and inspiration from the iconic “black diva” (SFMoMA).

Rashaad Newsome, “Sun King”, 2011.

Newsome’s work celebrates African American high culture, hip hop culture, and the art of voguing.   Working in sculpture, video, and performance—such as last year’s rap joust which Art Fag City’s Paddy Johnson labeled “a total disaster”—Newsome’s best works involve fabulous costumes and chorography. With the Bay Area’s cultural diversity, rap history, drag rappers—Mykki Blanco may live in NYC but he was raised in the Bay—and costumes by Alexander Wang, tomorrow night’s performance is going be a great one.

Rashaad Newsome’s “Shade Compostions” is free with regular admission to SFMoMA, on Thursday, October 4 at 9 p.m..

-Kendall George