Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Born Njideka Akunyili
1983
Nationality Nigerian, American
Alma mater
Notable work I refuse to be Invisible
Awards 2017 Macarthur Genius Grant

Njideka Akunyili Crosby (born 1983 ) is a Nigerian-born visual artist working in Los Angeles, California. Akunyili Crosby's art "negotiates the cultural terrain between her adopted home in America and her native Nigeria, creating collage and photo transfer-based paintings that expose the challenges of occupying these two worlds".[1]

In 2017, Akunyili Crosby was awarded a "Genius Grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.[2]

Early life and education

Njideka Akunyili Crosby was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1983. One of six siblings, Akunyili Crosby's father was a surgeon and her mother was a professor of pharmacology at the University of Nigeria.[3] She moved to Lagos when she was ten years old to attend Queen's College (QC) Yaba, Lagos. Her mother won the U.S. green card lottery for the family enabling Akunyili Crosby and her siblings to study abroad.[3] She is of Igbo descent.

At the age of 16, she left home with her sister and moved to the United States. She spent a year studying for her SAT's and taking American history classes before returning to Nigeria to serve a year of National Service. After she completed her service, she returned to the United States to study in Philadelphia. She studied art and biology at Swarthmore College, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.[4] After graduating in 2004, she spent four years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, earning a post-baccalaureate certificate. She later attended the Yale University School of Art where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree.[5][6]

Career

After graduating from Yale in 2011, Akunyili Crosby was selected as artist-in-residence at the highly regarded Studio Museum in Harlem, known for promoting and supporting emerging African artists. She spent her year of residence experimenting with drawing, figure painting, studying contemporary art, postcolonial history and diasporic studies.[6]

In 2015, Jamillah James, a former Studio Museum in Harlem curator and at the time, assistant curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, organized Akunyili Crosby's first solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum. That same year, James organized another exhibition of Akunyii Crosby's work at Art and Practice in Los Angeles.[6]

In 2016, Akunyili Crosby was named 'Financial Times' Woman of the Year." [7]

In 2016, a solo exhibition of Akunyili Crosby's work was held at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida. Highly respected art gallery Victoria Miro also started representing Akunyili Crosby that year.[6]

In 2017 Akunyili Crosby won the McArthur Genius grant.[8]

In 2018 Akunyili Crosby designed the mural that wrapped the Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.[9]

Influences

Akunyili Crosby cites classic and contemporary painters Édouard Vuillard, Alex Katz, and Chris Ofili as influences. She also draws on her experience as a Nigerian woman living in America in her work.[6] Her ethnic heritage and African experiences informs her art. She uses photos she has taken herself in Nigeria along with family photos and pages from popular Nigerian magazines. The photos "are layered in her works by collage and acetone-transfer prints, creating a fabric of images throughout her paintings".[10]

Selected exhibitions

Collections

  • The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
    • "Reality of My Surroundings: The Contemporary Collection" October 1, 2016 – July 10, 2016
      • Presented ""The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born" Might Not Hold True For Much Longer, 2013"[17]
  • Yale University Art Gallery
    • "The Rest of Her Remains, 2010"[18]
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
    • "Janded, 2012" [19]
    • "Wedding Portrait, 2012" [20]
  • The Whitney Museum of American Art
  • Perez Art Museum Miami The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • "Within Genres Collection" August 25, 2017 – August 19, 2018
      • Presented "See Through, 2016"[22]
  • The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
    • "I Always Face You, Even When it Seems Otherwise, 2012"[23]
  • The Studio Museum in Harlem
    • "Nwantinti, 2012"[24]
  • The Tate Modern The New Church Museum, Cape Town
    • "Our Lady" November 11, 2016-June, 2017
      • Presented "Mama, Mummy, and Mamma, 2014"[25]
  • Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
    • "Sunday Morning, 2014"[26]
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    • "Bush Girl, 2015"
    • "I Still Face You, 2015"
    • "I See You In My Eyes, 2015"[27]
  • Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Norton Museum of Art
    • "The Beautyful Ones Series #5, 2016"[28]
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
    • MOCA Mural: Njideka Akunyili Crosby[29]
    • "Give and Take: Highlighting Recent Acquisitions"
      • Presented "Garden, Thriving, 2016"[30]
  • The Smithsonian National Museum of African Arts[31]
    • "Wedding Souvenirs, 2016"[32]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 "Njideka Akunyili Crosby Is the 2014 Winner of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's James Dicke Contemporary Artist Prize". Smithsonian Newsdesk. The Smithsonian. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Michel, Karen. "MacArthur 'Genius' Paints Nigerian Childhood Alongside Her American Present". NPR. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 Solway, Diane. "ToggleWmagazine FASHION BEAUTY CULTURE SUBSCRIBE Njideka Akunyili Crosby - September 2017 - Transcend Nigerian Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby Is Painting the Afropolitan Story in America". W Magazine. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Swarthmore MMUF Fellow Njideka Akunyili Crosby Named MacArthur Fellow". mmuf.org. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby '04 Named a Woman of the Year". Swarthmore College. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Steadman, Ryan. "The Complicated Beauty of Njideka Akunyili Crosby". The Observer. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  7. ↑ "Swarthmore College". www.swarthmore.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-06.
  8. ↑ "MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  9. ↑ "MOCA Mural: Njideka Akunyili Crosby". The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  10. ↑ Dedieu, Jean-Philippe. "Njideka Akunyili Crosby's Intimate Universes". The New Yorker. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "Njideka Akunyili Crosby - Contemporary Arts Center". www.contemporaryartscenter.org. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  12. ↑ "Opener 30 Br Njideka Akunyili Crosby Predecessors - Tang Museum". Tang Museum. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  13. ↑ "Front Room: Njideka Akunyili Crosby/Counterparts". Baltimore Museum of Art. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  14. ↑ "Side by Side". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  15. ↑ "Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby On Her Billboard Project, Before Now After May 27, 2016". Whitney.org. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Portraits and Other Likenesses from SFMOMA". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  17. ↑ "Reality of My Surroundings: The Contemporary Collection - Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University". Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  18. ↑ "The Rest of Her Remains". artgallery.yale.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  19. ↑ "Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Janded, 2012". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  20. ↑ "Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Wedding Portrait, 2012". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  21. ↑ "Whitney Museum of American Art: Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Portals". collection.whitney.org. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  22. ↑ "Pérez Art Museum Miami Exhibition Schedule 2017–2018". pamm.org. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  23. ↑ "I Always Face You, Even When it Seems Otherwise | PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts". www.pafa.org. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  24. ↑ "Here in Harlem". Studio Museum in Harlem.
  25. ↑ "The New Church Museum". thenewchurch.co. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  26. ↑ Akunyili Crosby, Njideka. "Art". ZEITZ Museum of Contemporary Art Africa.
  27. ↑ "Bush Girl, I Still Face You, I See You In My Eyes | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  28. ↑ ""The Beautyful Ones" Series #5 | Albright-Knox". www.albrightknox.org. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  29. ↑ "MOCA Mural: Njideka Akunyili Crosby". The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  30. ↑ "Give and Take: Highlighting Recent Acquisitions". The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
  31. ↑ "Njideka Akunyili Crosby CV". Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  32. ↑ Akunyili Crosby, Njideka. "Collection". Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.
  33. 1 2 3 Heawood, Sophie. "The Nigerian artist who is exploding the myth of the authentic African experience". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "Who are the FT's Women of 2016?". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  35. ↑ "Alumni Awards". Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
  36. ↑ "Njideka Akunyili Crosby". Foreign Policy.com. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
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