Akintayo Akintobi

• Born: 1994, Osun State, Nigeria
• Active: Johnson City (Washington County)
• Region: East
• Mediums: Painting, Mixed Media
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Akintayo Akintobi

“The themes in my paintings reflect a hybrid of my experiences in the Yoruba culture of Nigeria and a western environment. I explore meaningful relationships and experiences with my family by making art that is personal and cultural but also universal.

My recent body of work explores carving a new identity while juxtaposing my experiences with found materials and techniques learned in western culture. The work explores my childhood in Nigeria and adulthood experiences in the United States, which is a whole new different world and culture. Hence, my work projects a juxtaposition of my cultural identity as Yoruba and a new identity formed through exposure to the western world. I am dissecting and understanding the imposing culture of how I was raised as a child and how I acculturate with the western culture and education.

I Interweave my personal experience, background, and history with found objects and materials in my current environment. African patterns, African fabrics, paints, and Yoruba motifs are also incorporated to draw similarities between my western experiences, culture, and materials in the west and my culture. I am presently interested in modifying materials and found objects to make sculptural works and paintings that reflect my current identity.”

Crafting Blackness Exhibitions

Black Bodies Making Form

MTSU Black Bodies Making Form

Reclaiming

Tanasi