Past Residents
Past Resident2013: The New York Community Trust’s Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Njideka Akunyili Crosby makes graphic images that at first glance, take the form of traditional Western paintings. Upon closer inspection, nuances in her mode of representation emerge which connote the multi-layered nature of her cultural experience as well as its complications. She extrapolates from her training in western painting a new visual language that represents her experience as a cosmopolitan Nigerian. Akunyili Crosby grew up in a Nigeria acculturated to and independent from Britain and immigrated to the United States as an adult. This visual language allows her to make images that suggest narratives with universal allegorical interpretations. Akunyili Crosby creates a metaphor of cultural syncretism by formally juxtaposing disparate elements such as flat versus illusionistic spaces; simple versus elaborate areas; interiors versus exteriors and Nigerian versus Western fashions.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby is a Nigerian-born visual artist who creates painted drawings with print and collage elements. She was a 2012 artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem and is a 2013 participant of the Bronx Museum Artist in Marketplace program. She received her MFA from Yale University in 2011, Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2006, and her BA from Swarthmore College in 2004. Akunyili Crosby has recently exhibited work in Primary Sources at the Studio Museum, Harlem, Lost and Found: Belief and Doubt in Contemporary Pictures at the Museum of New Art, Detroit, and The Bearden Project at the Studio Museum, Harlem. She is one of the 2013 recipients of the prestigious Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant. Her work is in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Yale University Art gallery, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Rubell Family collection.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, 2011, Charcoal, acrylic, colored pencil, lace, collage and xerox transfers on paper, 84 × 84 in. (213.36 × 213.36 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, The Beautiful Ones, 2012, Acrylic, colored pencils, and Xerox transfers on paper, 96 × 67 in. (243.84 × 170.18 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nwantinti, 2012, Acrylic, charcoal, colored pencil, collage, and Xerox transfers on paper, 67 × 96 in. (170.18 × 243.84 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Thread, 2012, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colored pencils, and Xerox transfers on paper, 52 × 52 in. (132.08 × 132.08 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Njideka Akunyili Crosby, 5 Umezebi Street, New Haven, Enugu, 2012, Acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colored pencil, Xerox transfers on paper, 84 × 105 in. (213.36 × 266.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from United States
Tobias Dostal
Tobias Dostal works to rid the film medium of the classic canvas by restaging the movie in a space with sculptural elements – rebuilt 16 mm projectors and projection screens made of wood or paper constructions, for example. Addressing the roots of the film and similar artistic approaches in the past is crucial to his work. After extensive experiments in a variety of media, formats and techniques and dealing with artistic approaches such as the “Expanded Cinema” and structural film and the history of film, he found his visual language through the use of celluloid film.
Tobias Dostal (born 1982 in Bad Hersfeld, Germany) studied drawing, film and skuplture at the Braunschweig Universitity of Arts. His Film installations have been shown in group exhibitions at the gallery of La Esmeralda, New Mexico; Kunstschaufenster am Hallenbad, Wolfsburg; End in Nation, Kapitelsaal, Bad Hersfeld; Films about being God, Kreuzberg Pavillion, Berlin; Metamorphosen, Allgemeiner Konsumverein, Braunschweig and the Up and Coming Film Festival, Hannover.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Tobias Dostal and Sofie Thorsen
January 7, 2014
Tobias Dostal, The Two Sphinx, 2012, 16mm loop installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, The Two Sphinx, 2012, 16mm loop installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Gedankenkuppel, 2011, 16mm projection, paper, wood, text, and mirror. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Paradise, 2011, 16mm projection, wood, and textile. Courtesy of the artist.
Tobias Dostal, Kinora, 2012. Courtesy of the artist.
Residents from Germany
Past Resident2013: Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem
Jan Lesák
Jan Lesák studied Fine Art Photography but deviates from this traditional media in an attempt to break the boundaries of established genres and disciplines. Lesák’s present day work is based on post-conceptual principles and is in direct relation with the theory he discusses in his doctoral dissertation. The broad foundations of Lesák’s dissertation lie in his belief that for today’s artists it is next to impossible not to react and draw inspiration from existing works of art, formal structures, ideas and theories. Lesák’s central work The Case for a Rookie is based on a transcript of movie elements into an object, which is represented by a long term and persistent mechanical process that generates the final outcome of the work. Jan Lesák’s theory and practice often deal with sameness, alienation and the crisis of subjectivity.
Jan Lesák (born 1984) lives and works in Prague. In 2010 he graduated from the Department of Fine Art Photography at the Faculty of Art and Design – Jan Evangelista Purkyne University, where he is currently enrolled in the Visual Communication doctoral program. As part of the program, he has been an external lecturer for the master’s program students of the Department of Photography. In 2007, he studied at the Faculty of Communication Design, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, and in 2009 he interned at Contemporary Art Projects, London. His solo exhibitions include The Case for a Rookie, Fotograf Gallery, Prague, 20011 and Reflection, m.odla gallery, Prague, 2010. Selected group exhibitions include 2012 – Sweetness of death, Small tower, DOX Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, 2012; Magic Circle, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Brussels, 2011; Prague Photo, Exhibition Hall Mánes, Prague, 2010; Making Worlds, Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem, 2010 and Photomonth, Shining, Divus Gallery, London, 2008.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Jan Lesák and Law Man Lok
February 5, 2013
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, Digital C-print, 24 × 18 in. (60.96 × 45.72 cm). Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, Timeline motion and digital c-print 4 pc, 12 x 9 in, 16 x 12 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011. Courtesy of the artist.
Jan Lesák, The Case for a Rookie, 2011, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.
