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 the prestigious Genius Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. [2]
Njideka Akunyili was born in 1983 and raised in Enugu, Nigeria. [3] She is of Igbo descent. One of six siblings, Akunyili Crosby's father was a surgeon and her mother was a professor of pharmacology at the University of Nigeria. [4] She moved to Lagos when she was ten years old to attend the secondary school 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. [4]
Two years later, at the age of 16, she left home with her sister, Ijeoma, and moved to the United States [De Gruyter 1]. 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 graduated Swarthmore College in 2004, where she studied art and biology as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. [5] She was at first getting pre-medical requirements to pursue a career in medicine before deciding to pursue art [6] After graduating in 2004, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This is where she earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in 2006. [3] She later attended the Yale University School of Art, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. [7] [8]
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. [9] She spent her year of residence experimenting with drawing, figure painting, studying contemporary art, postcolonial history and diasporic studies. [8]
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. [3] That same year, James organized another exhibition of Akunyili Crosby's work at Art and Practice in Los Angeles. [8]
In 2016, Akunyili Crosby was named Financial Times Woman of the Year." [10]
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. [8]
In 2017 Akunyili Crosby won the MacArthur Fellowship Genius grant. [11]
In 2018 Akunyili Crosby designed the mural that wrapped the Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. The mural features her characteristic style of combining painting with collage, printmaking, and drawing to create intricate, layered scenes. She was the second artist to create a mural for the site under a new initiative by the museum. [12]
Akunyili Crosby was one of the artists featured in Nathaniel Kahn’s 2018 documentary The Price of Everything where she discusses her career and attitude to the art market. [13] It culminates with her painting Drown being sold at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in November 2016 for $900,000.
In March 2012, Akunyili Crosby sold her piece titled The Beautyful Ones for $3,075,774 at Christie's London. [14]
While attending Queens College, Akunyili Crosby was exposed to even more Nigerian, British, and American popular culture which contributed to the similarities between her work and the work of pop-culture artists [De Gruyter 2]. Akunyili Crosby cites classic and contemporary painters Édouard Vuillard and Chris Ofili as influences [15]. She also draws on her experience as a Nigerian woman living in America in her work. [8] She is influenced by writer Chinua Achebe whose focus on changing the English language to fit his culture is interpreted through Akunyili Crosby's artwork. [16] Other influences, such as J.D Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé, are fine art photographers. [15]
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". [15] Her primary mediums include collage, photo transfer, acrylic paint, charcoal, and colored pencil. Along with a strong Nigerian influence, her style is also derived from pop culture, personal experience, and western academia. [17] However, her work cannot be categorized as either American nor Nigeria, but rather the work is an autobiography based on her "character that doesn't fit into a box." [15]
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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 the prestigious Genius Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. [2]
Njideka Akunyili was born in 1983 and raised in Enugu, Nigeria. [3] She is of Igbo descent. One of six siblings, Akunyili Crosby's father was a surgeon and her mother was a professor of pharmacology at the University of Nigeria. [4] She moved to Lagos when she was ten years old to attend the secondary school 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. [4]
Two years later, at the age of 16, she left home with her sister, Ijeoma, and moved to the United States [De Gruyter 1]. 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 graduated Swarthmore College in 2004, where she studied art and biology as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. [5] She was at first getting pre-medical requirements to pursue a career in medicine before deciding to pursue art [6] After graduating in 2004, she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. This is where she earned a post-baccalaureate certificate in 2006. [3] She later attended the Yale University School of Art, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. [7] [8]
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. [9] She spent her year of residence experimenting with drawing, figure painting, studying contemporary art, postcolonial history and diasporic studies. [8]
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. [3] That same year, James organized another exhibition of Akunyili Crosby's work at Art and Practice in Los Angeles. [8]
In 2016, Akunyili Crosby was named Financial Times Woman of the Year." [10]
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. [8]
In 2017 Akunyili Crosby won the MacArthur Fellowship Genius grant. [11]
In 2018 Akunyili Crosby designed the mural that wrapped the Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. The mural features her characteristic style of combining painting with collage, printmaking, and drawing to create intricate, layered scenes. She was the second artist to create a mural for the site under a new initiative by the museum. [12]
Akunyili Crosby was one of the artists featured in Nathaniel Kahn’s 2018 documentary The Price of Everything where she discusses her career and attitude to the art market. [13] It culminates with her painting Drown being sold at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in November 2016 for $900,000.
In March 2012, Akunyili Crosby sold her piece titled The Beautyful Ones for $3,075,774 at Christie's London. [14]
While attending Queens College, Akunyili Crosby was exposed to even more Nigerian, British, and American popular culture which contributed to the similarities between her work and the work of pop-culture artists [De Gruyter 2]. Akunyili Crosby cites classic and contemporary painters Édouard Vuillard and Chris Ofili as influences [15]. She also draws on her experience as a Nigerian woman living in America in her work. [8] She is influenced by writer Chinua Achebe whose focus on changing the English language to fit his culture is interpreted through Akunyili Crosby's artwork. [16] Other influences, such as J.D Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé, are fine art photographers. [15]
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". [15] Her primary mediums include collage, photo transfer, acrylic paint, charcoal, and colored pencil. Along with a strong Nigerian influence, her style is also derived from pop culture, personal experience, and western academia. [17] However, her work cannot be categorized as either American nor Nigeria, but rather the work is an autobiography based on her "character that doesn't fit into a box." [15]
{{
cite web}}
: Check date values in: |accessdate=
(
help)
{{
cite web}}
: Check date values in: |accessdate=
(
help)
Cite error: There are <ref group=De Gruyter>
tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=De Gruyter}}
template (see the
help page).