And We Begin to Let go, 2013, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, marble dust, collage, and transfers on paper 84 x 105 in. (213.36 x 266.7 cm) Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Jason Wyche
Born in Engugu, Nigeria, in 1983, Njideka Akunyili Crosby left home at the age of 16 to study in the United States. She now lives in Los Angeles creating works of art that are beautifully layered images of daily life, revealing the many facets and layers of human experience. Using small photographic images as though they were swatches of fabric, She makes extensive use of Xerox transfer printing, a largely Western technique, to incorporate found photography into the works. Using family photographs, clippings from Nigerian political, fashion, and society magazines, and ornamental patterns from traditional textiles, Akunyili Crosby has created a sophisticated visual language that combines African and Western traditions to spectacular effect. In each work, there is an intense sense of nostalgia that overwhelms you like a perfume, enveloping you in its embrace like a lover gone too soon.
5 Umezebi Street, New Haven, Enugu, 2012. Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, and transfers on paper. 84 x 105 in. (213.36 x 266.7cm) Collection of Craig Robins, Image courtesy of the artist and Tilton Gallery, New York. Photo: Max Yawney
The large scale works on paper combine collage, drawing, painting, and printmaking, fusing African and American influences together, showing the full spectrum of the diaspora as it spans the globe. Recalling the works of the great Romare Bearden, Akunyili Crosby shows us the world as it exists today, reflecting on contemporary postcolonial African cosmopolitanism and her experiences as an expatriate living in the USA.
Her work is currently on view in two concurrent exhibitions, her first solo shows in Los Angeles: “Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby” at the Hammer Museum (through January 10, 2016) and “Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Beautyful Ones” at Art + Practice (through November 21, 2015).
Tea Time in New Haven, Enugu, 2013. Acrylic, collage, colored pencil, charcoal, transfers on paper. 84 x 111 in. (213.36 x 281.94 cm) Collection of Olga Schloss. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Jason Wyche
“Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby” features a selection of the artist’s early works. Often appearing as the subject of her paintings, Akunyili Crosby is shown amid family gatherings, in contemplation, or in private moments with her husband. The works are romantic, not merely sentimental, but intensely charged with feelings of love and loss, of presence and absence. There is a deep sense of the past seeping into the present, and this ambiguity of time makes Akunyili Crosby’s work infinitely compelling.
Akunyili Crosby observes, “My art addresses my internal tension between my deep love for Nigeria, my country of birth, and my strong appreciation for Western culture, which has profoundly influenced both my life and my art. I use my art as a way to negotiate my seemingly contradictory loyalties to both my cherished Nigerian culture that is currently eroding and to my white American husband. Most of the Nigerian traditions I experienced growing up are quickly disappearing due to the permeation of Western culture and the ensuing opinion that being ‘too Nigerian’ is uncool. I feel dismayed by Nigerians’ unquestioningly valuing anything Western as superior however, my awareness of this problem does not exempt me from it – indeed, I question whether this mentality played a part in my falling in love with my husband. My art serves as a vehicle through which I explore my conflicted allegiance to two separate cultures.”
I Refuse to be Invisible, 2010. Ink, charcoal, acrylic, and transfers on paper. 120 x 84 in. Collection of Connie Tilton. Image courtesy of the artist and Tilton Gallery, New York.
“Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby” beautifully bridges the divide, fusing the African, European, and American influences while considering the personal effect of living in an increasingly globalized society.
“Hammer Projects: Njideka Akunyili Crosby” is showing at the Hammer Museum now through January 10, 2016.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
