#complexnaratives

[suzylwade]

Njideka Akunyili Crosby “I came to LA two years ago [from the East Coast], and I'm finally seeing LA creeping into the work. The first thing I noticed was something about the color reflecting the lights of the place I was in. We moved into an apartment with big sliding-glass doors that overlooked the pool, and it reminded me of David Hockney. I started making works with plants when I was on the East Coast, but the use of plants in the work has kept evolving and developing since [I moved]. For a long time I used houseplants I photographed on the East Coast and a local root tuber from rural areas in Nigeria called the cassava. Then, when I arrived here, I decided to do more elaborate plant scenes, and I found myself walking around my studio, just photographing plants I saw. Plants can be markers of location and markers of place, but also sometimes markers of how people have moved from place to place. I think I'm getting to a point where I'm curious to see what happens outside the [interior] space I've been creating. I've been doing a lot of pieces with portals or openings into the outside world [using] a lot of windows and doors; that's where the gardens come in.” - Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Artist. Drawing on art historical, political and personal references, Njideka Akunyili Crosby creates densely layered figurative compositions, precise in style that, nonetheless conjure the complexity of contemporary experience. Akunyili Crosby was born in Nigeria, where she lived until the age of sixteen. In 1999 she moved to the United States where she has remained since that time. Her cultural identity combines strong attachments to the country of her birth and to her adopted home a hybrid identity that is reflected in her work. #neonurchin #neonurchinblog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #suzyurchin #ollyurchin #art #music #photography #fashion #film #words #pictures #neon #urchin #nigereia #america #pennsylvaniaacademyofthefinearts #swarthmorecollege #yale #bobblers #cinematicdepictions #domesticity #complexnaratives #collage #painting #drawing #hybrididentity #artist #njidekaakunyilicrosby https://www.instagram.com/p/CCA2VXcF3dQ/?igshid=1cbo1t2oka49