The Economist on Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, a young artist based in Los Angeles, is currently the talk of the art world. Dozens of wealthy collectors want to buy her latest works, yet none is for sale—at least, not to private individuals.

Ms Crosby’s first European solo show will open at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London on October 4th, the week that Frieze Art Fair starts. Now 33, she moved from Nigeria to America at the age of 16. Her “Afropolitan” identity has forged a highly distinctive visual style. She works mostly on paper, creating large-scale interiors that combine serene human figures with dense areas of collage and image-transfer that subversively evoke her Nigerian heritage. “Her paintings have a distinct vocabulary,” says Glenn Scott Wright, a director at Victoria Miro, which represents Ms Crosby. “You can go around an art fair with 10,000 works and you would know hers immediately.”

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Image caption: Njideka Akunyili Crosby Ike Ya, 2016

Acrylic, transfers, colored pencils, and charcoal on paper
213.4 x 233.7 cm
84 x 92 in

Collection Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA