Interviews From Yale Radio / Artists, Curators And More

Anthony Akinbola Photo by Fredrick Nwosu Anthony Akinbola is an interdisciplinary Nigerian- American, Brooklyn-based artist. Born in Columbia, Missouri, Anthony Akinbola, is a first-generation American raised by Nigerian parents in the United States and Nigeria. His layered, richly colored compositions celebrate and signify the distinct cultures that shape his identity. The artist’s signature Camouflage paintings, consisting of single and multi-panel works, utilize the ubiquitous du-rag as their primary material. Universally available and possessed of significant cultural context, the du-rag represents for Akinbola a readymade object that engages the conceptual strategies of Marcel Duchamp and other significant artistic predecessors. Throughout his work Akinbola unpacks the rituals and histories connecting Africa and America, addressing the power of fetishization around cultural objects. Anthony Akinbola was selected for the Anderson Ranch Art Center Residency in 2017 and created a monumental wall collage f