Aniakor's works often address the social ills of his native Nigeria. His ink washes are embellished with detailed linear renderings of crowds and urban spaces and present the iconographic forms borrowed from traditional Igbo uli paintings.
Through subtlety of expression and boldness of line, Aniakor is able to comment upon the corruption and despotism of political life while avoiding eyes of censorship.
Description:
Painting of watercolor and ink on paper of a stylized human figure with other human figures inside.
Exhibition History:
Encounters with the Contemporary, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., January 7, 2001-January 6, 2002
Poetics of Line: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 22, 1997-April 26, 1998
Published References:
Ottenberg, Simon. 1997. New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Press, p. 97, no.69.
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Credit Line:
Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program