Sean Kelly is delighted to announce the opening of Good Hair, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola’s solo exhibition at SCAD Museum of Art opening on Friday, August 23, 2024. The exhibition will present recent works that repurpose everyday objects associated with Black hair to convey the intersection of commodities and their broader sociopolitical implications.
In his most ambitious Camouflage painting to date, Akinbola stitches durags into a 48-foot-wide composition, invoking Modernist painting tropes while critically underscoring the ubiquity of gestural abstraction. The Price of Oil, an installation of pomade cans on retail shelving, signifies the dynamic history of Black hair within the American economy, where abundance paradoxically connotes the celebration yet sterile commercialization of culture. His newest sculpture Spinnin' offers a monument to barbershops — the earliest sites of Black commercial enterprises and civil rights organizing — recognizing their part in fostering Black political mobility and financial independence in an ever-resistant environment.
Exemplifying Akinbola’s artistic practice of mediating between sculpture and painting, Good Hair draws attention to the nuanced roles of everyday objects within Black life, individuation, and joy.
The SCAD Museum of Art features more than 10 dynamic gallery spaces presenting exhibitions and commissioned works by international emerging and established artists. The museum also hosts public programming year-round, including lectures, gallery talks, workshops, and film screenings.