For his second solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger, Western Beef, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola continues to repurpose everyday objects to explore the relationship between ubiquitous commodities and their broader socio-political connotations, an artistic strategy previously employed in his signature Camouflage series, in which durags are used as a textile medium that bridges painting and sculpture. Through the use of readymade objects and various modes of display, often with a playful twist, Akinbola, a first-generation American raised in both the United States and Nigeria, reflects on issues of race, the commodification of culture, and mass production. Central to his latest exhibition are the ways in which products or objects contain power or significance beyond their assumed use, and how relationships along cultural divides, as well as between individuals, are mediated through commodities. “I persist in investigating the dynamic value of objects pervasive in our everyday lives; how the identity of these objects fluctuates over time and through communities is always changing, never static,” states the artist.
