#nyado

Known for portrait-like works created with a range of materials and techniques from paint to photo transfer (like the image pictured here from a ’19 exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery), Njideka Akunyili Crosby recently simplified her procedure in paintings presented at last summer’s Venice Biennial. Two of these are highlights of ‘Side By Side,’ a new on-line collaboration between David Zwirner Gallery and Victoria Miro Gallery for which the two galleries are presenting works via 3-D renderings by VortecXR. Specifically addressing how to see artwork without being present in front of it, Side By Side showcases technology as much as the art, both of which are worth a look. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, acrylic, photographic transfers, color pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 81 ½ x 81 ¾ inches, 2011.

James Baldwin’s intellectual legacy and his powerful impact on contemporary culture is the subject of David Zwirner Gallery’s current group exhibition or ‘collective portrait’ of the late writer and thinker. By displaying the work of other artists alongside documents and ephemera related to Baldwin, curator Hilton Als considers how the writer may have continued to make art had his career developed differently after his seminal ‘The Fire Next Time.' In one of the show's highlights, Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s collaged photo draws on images from Nigerian and U.S. West Coast cultures, creating a provocative hybridity. (On view in Chelsea on 19th Street through Feb 16th). Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nyado: The Thing Around Her Neck, acrylic, photographic transfers, color pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 81 ½ x 81 ¾ inches, 2011.