FROM THE CATALOG:
It is unusual to find an artist who not only uses multiple mediums to create his art, but also excels at each mode of expression. Onajide Shabaka, however, is one of those rare artists. His interest in art began in a high school photography course and continued through various post-secondary institutions, including the Art Center College of Design and the California College of the Arts. His official formal education culminated with a MFA awarded from Vermont College of the Fine Arts, an institution that focuses on self-designed study and research.
Although Shabaka began with photography, his artistic focus extended to his San Francisco-based fashion boutique. There, he designed clothing from imported cloth with a focus on finding the perfect mix of natural and hand-woven fabrics. This experience and interest in ethnic textiles continues to emerge and inform his art practice.
His work in the Aesthetics & Values exhibition unites multiple art mediums into an impressive collection that is part autobiographical and part fiction. This project, which is an ongoing exploration, started many years ago and focuses on his family’s experience living in the central east coast of Florida in the early twentieth century.
Art writing and independent curatorial work are both important aspects of Shabaka’s ten-plus years of artistry. With an incredibly broad-based knowledge of contemporary art history, critical theory, anthropology and ethnobotany, Shabaka focuses on the continued development and challenges of art, both inside and outside the traditional white cubic exhibition space.