Tag: njideka akunyili crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby at David Zwirner Gallery

In an oasis of plants and a richly colored and patterned domestic environment, LA-based artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby poses with her baby on lap, looking out to meet the viewer’s eye in a standout piece in her current solo show at David Zwirner Gallery.  As a self-portrait as artist and mother, Akunyili Crosby projects poise and confidence amid a superabundance of imagery from Nigerian media sources, a signature element in her work. Using transfers on paper (in addition to acrylic, colored pencil and collage) Akunyili Crosby assembles photos from the worlds of Nigerian music, fashion, sports, culture and more into collages.  Taking the form of plants, architecture and more, the artist fashions influence into images that speak to her identity as both a Nigerian and an American.  (On view in Chelsea through Oct 28th).

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Still You Bloom in This Land of No Gardens, acrylic, colored pencil, collage, and transfers on paper, 2021.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby in ‘Side by Side’

Known for portrait-like works created with a range of materials and techniques from paint to photo transfer (like the image pictured here from a ’19 exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery), Njideka Akunyili Crosby recently simplified her procedure in paintings presented at last summer’s Venice Biennial.  Two of these are highlights of ‘Side By Side,’ a new on-line collaboration between David Zwirner Gallery and Victoria Miro Gallery for which the two galleries are presenting works via 3-D renderings by VortecXR.  Specifically addressing how to see artwork without being present in front of it, Side By Side showcases technology as much as the art, both of which are worth a look.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, acrylic, photographic transfers, color pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 81 ½ x 81 ¾ inches, 2011.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby in ‘God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin’ at David Zwirner Gallery

James Baldwin’s intellectual legacy and his powerful impact on contemporary culture is the subject of David Zwirner Gallery’s current group exhibition, or ‘collective portrait,’ of the late writer and thinker.  By displaying the work of other artists alongside documents and ephemera related to Baldwin, curator Hilton Als considers how the writer may have continued to make art had his career developed differently after the seminal ‘The Fire Next Time.’  In one of the show’s highlights, Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s collaged photo draws on images from Nigerian and U.S. West Coast cultures, creating a provocative hybridity. (On view in Chelsea on 19th Street through Feb 16th).

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, acrylic, photographic transfers, color pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 81 ½ x 81 ¾ inches, 2011.