MacArthur Fellow Njideka Akunyili Crosby pours her Nigerian-American world into her mixed-media art
LOS ANGELES - The sidewalk outside Njideka Akunyili Crosby's art studio in an industrial area south of downtown L.A. is bustling and loud. The other side of her graffiti-scribbled front door, however, is neat and peaceful.
In fact, the room she paints in is completely bare but for a ladder, fans and a tiny cart housing tubes of paint. Cream and white sheets hang loosely from the window, blocking the sun, and the stark, white walls are studded with nails for hanging works in progress.
Today, there are none. The room is conspicuously devoid of art.
That's because the Nigerian painter, who has lived in the U.S. for the last 18 years and last month was named a 2017 MacArthur Fellow, has shipped off every last one of her paintings for exhibitions around the country. Her solo show "Front Room: Njideka Akunyili Crosby - Counterparts" opened at the Baltimore Museum of Art in October, as did "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Predecessors" at the Tang Museum at
