Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola, Untitled #78, 2020, Durags, acrylic on wood panel, 55 x 45 x 2 inches
A large-scale installation conceived as a modern-day sanctuary, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola’s Magic City explores the commodification of Black culture and the relationship between Africa and Black America through the lenses of fetishism and globalism.
The evocative nature of objects is at the core of Magic City. In Akinbola’s mystical space, mass-produced and readymade materials—specifically those with cultural currency in the Black community—are transformed into animistic power objects that communicate the complexities of identity. Durags replace oil paint as a medium for creating monumentally scaled action paintings; hundreds of stacked hair pomade cans become looming minimalist totems; and a Cadillac Escalade morphs into a pulsating sound sculpture.
By tracing the arc of fetishism from Africa to contemporary America, Magic City challenges perceptions of cultural and racialized identities in a globalized world by prompting us to question what makes an object “African,” “Black,” “White,” or “American.”