There is a sense of ominious energy on the horizon, a shift in how history will be written, and we have Umar Rashid right in the thick of it. Back in 2021, he said to us "The whole world is full of popular misconceptions and horrible shit, and I just bring it to light in a very loose way. I make it accessible because if we're at each other's throats all the goddamn time, if we're all like, "Fuck you. You did this to me," it's just like old school feuding. And that has to end."
And now, 2024. Rashid opens The Kingdom of the Two Californias. La Época del Totalitarismo Part 2 at BLUM, the second installment in Rashid’s Epoch of Totalitarianism series where we rejoin "the artist’s fictional Frenglish conquerors—whose visual tale the artist has authored for upwards of fifteen years—in the 1800s as they attempt to maintain a stronghold in the Americas." We are ripe for some fictional, alternate history at the moment as the present seems unfathomable across the world, no matter your political identity and priority. Rashid empowering a rebellious spirit, a victory over oppression, and his unique way of blending identifiable history with his own world, feels refreshing in our climate. If what we see in front of us feels like a narrative ripped from a distant history, why not make a new story up instead? —Evan Pricco
