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.
His emphasis upon "the people," literally and figuratively embodied in the larger body of society, celebrates the strength of the masses to articulate freedoms and pursue creativity beyond restrictive political, economic and social structures.
Description:
Painting of ink on paper with stylized anthropomophic figures.
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. 68.
Content Statement:
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Credit Line:
Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program
