Njideka Akunyili Crosby
CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER, CINCINNATI
44 E. Sixth Street
July 15–October 1
Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s paintings exhibit both a generous opulence and a tender grace, taking small moments of intimacy and imbuing them with a meticulously ordered magnificence. Mama, Mummy and Mamma (Predecessors #2), 2014, is exemplary of her approach, presenting a domestic interior with the monumentality and structural organization of a Renaissance-era sacra conversazione. Like much of Akunyili Crosby’s work, this piece is wrought on paper, its painted image scored by numerous photo transfers that dissolve the painting’s surface even as its muscular linearity and bold colors work toward compositional unity.
Image: Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Ike Ya, 2016
Acrylic, transfers, colored pencils, and charcoal on paper
213.4 x 233.7 cm, 84 x 92 in
© the artist, courtesy Victoria Miro
August 24 2017
