# Kambui Olujimi

URL: https://vielmetter.com/biography/wrklst-kambui-olujimi-15708/

2006 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 2013 Columbia University, Master of Fine Art

**Selected Solo Exhibitions**

  2023 "All I Got To Give," Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA 2021 "When Monuments Fall," Armory Art Show, New York, NY 2020 "Walk With Me," Project for Empty Space, Newark, NJ  "In Your Absence The Skies Are All The Same," Midnight Moments, Times Square Art Alliance, New York City, NY 2019 "Vanishing Lines," Lighthouse Works, Fishers Island, NY  "Future Continuous (Duo with Andre Wagner)," Studio Museum, Harlem, NY 2018 "Where the Sky Begins," City of New York MTA, Permanent Installation, Brooklyn, NY  "Skywriters & Constellations," Newark Museum, Newark, NJ  "Off-Axis (Duo with Yashua Klos)," Time Equities, Art-Buildings, New York City, NY  "Redshift," Spring/Break, New York, NY 2017 "Where Does the Time Go…," Lincoln Center for the Preforming Arts, New York City, NY 2016 "What Endures," Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA  "Solastalgia," Cue Arts Foundation, New York, NY 2015 "What’s Left to Burn?," Bindery Projects, Minneapolis, MN 2014 "Blind Sum," Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY  "A Life in Pictures," MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston, MA  "The Conspiracy of Good People," Young World, Detroit, MI 2012 "A Life in Pictures," Apex Art, New York, NY 2011 "Love to Lose," Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2010 "Wayward North," Art in General, New York, NY 2009 "The Clouds Are After Me," Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, NY 2008 "Winter in America," de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA  "The Clouds Are After Me," Meyers Gallery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH Branch Gallery, Durham, NC, Main Gallery, Las Vegas, NV (multi-city concurrent exhibition) 2007 "The Lost Rivers Dream Index," Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT 2006 "Walk The Plank," Gallery 138, New York, NY

**Selected Group Exhibitions**

  2026 “61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia: In Minor Keys," Curated by Koyo Kouoh, Arsenale di Venezia Campo de la Tana, Venice, Italy (forthcoming) 2023 "Imagining Black Diasporas: 21st Century Art and Poetics," Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA  "Inheritance: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1971-2022," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY  "Sharjah Biennial: Thinking Historically in the Present,” Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates 2022 "When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting," Zeitz MOCAA, South Africa  "The Dakar Biennale," Dakar, Senegal 2021 "New Histories, New Futures," The Clevland Art Museum, Cleveland, OH  "Fantasy America," Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA 2020 "This Is America, Art USA Today," Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands 2019 "Street Dreams," Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands  "As Long As We Are Flyin…," Luce Gallery, Torino, Italy  "A Thousand Plateaus," Jenkins Johnson Gallery, Brooklyn, NY  "The Wretched of the Screen," Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa  "Destroy, he said," Art Basel: Film, Basel, Switzerland 2018 "The 50 State Initiative," For Freedoms, [national initiative]  "Shadow Stories & Matters of Time," SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA 2017 "More Than A Two Step," MoMA PS1 & For Freedoms Laboratory, New York City, NY  "Project 107: Long Wolf Recital Corps," Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY  "The Half-Life of Love," MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA  "The Exposed Suture," Rond-Point Project, Marseille, France  "Sabbath," The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA 2016 "Paradoxical Stranger," Momo Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa  "Time+Space: Futures," Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE 2015 "Draw: Mapping Madness," Inside Out Museum, Beijing, China Dali Contemporary Art Museum in Yunnan, China (traveling exhibition)  "Winter in America," Jack Shainman Gallery: The School, Kinderhook, NY 2014 "Crossing Brooklyn," Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY 2013 "Mnemonikos," Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand  "Rapid Pulse: International Performance Art Festival," Defibrillator, Chicago, IL 2011 "Pictures are Words-Not-Unknown," LiShui Museum of Photography, LiShui City, China 2011-2009 "StreetWise," Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain  "On Screen: Global Intimacy," Krannert Museum of Art, Urbana-Champaign, IL Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico (traveling exhibition) 2010-2009 "Fax," The Drawing Center, New York, NY, Para/Site, Hong Kong, China 2008 "Videocracy," The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Czech Republic 2007 "Harlem Postcards," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  "Float," Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, NY  "Night Vision," Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA  "Dark Matters," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA  "For the Love of the Game Black Light/ White Noise," The Wadsworth Museum, Hartford, CT  "Black Light/ White Noise," Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX 2006 "UnderPlayed," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA  "The Black Alphabet," The Polish National Gallery: Zacheta Museum  "The California Biennial," Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA 2005 "Frequency," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York NY  "Art Caucasus International," Georgian Trade Center, Tbilisi, Georgia  "URB Visual Urban Arts in the 21st Century," The Finnish National Gallery: Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland  "Bay Area Now 4," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 2002 "Life of the City," Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY 2001 "Perceptions," Artist Space, New York, NY 2000 "Reflections in Black," Smithsonian Institute: Anacostia Museum, Washington, DC

**Bibliography**

  2023 Volk, Gregory. "A Poignant Meditation on the Dance Marathon," Hyperallergic, December 18  Okereke-Cox, Christopher. "In Conversation: Kambui Olujimi Explores The Mythic Space of Depression Era Dance Marathons in ‘All I Got to Give’," Black Art And Design, November 28 ([Link](https://www.blackartanddesign.com/kambui-olujimi-unravels-the-dance-of-endurance-in-all-i-got-to-give/)) 2022 Gill, Jenny. "In The Studio: Kambui Olujimi," Joan Mitchell Foundation, September 14 ([Link](https://kambuiolujimi.com/in-the-studio-kambui-olujimi)) 2021 Ridbey, Seph. "Seeing the Armory Art Fair as a Chance to Reconnect," Hyperallergic, September 10  Boone, Keyaira. "14 Black Contemporary Artists And Curators You Should Know," Essence, January 28  Mitha, Siddhartha. "In 177 Portraits, an Artist’s Homage to His Bed-Stuy Muse," New York Times, January 8 2020 Bobb, Brooke. "The Wide Awakes Are the Civil War-Era Activist Group Making a Comeback in Bold, Joyful Style," Vogue, October 2  Dellinger, Matt. "A Civil War Political Movement Reawakens — Complete With Capes," New York Times, September 16  Elephant Staff. "Out Now! Elephant’s Summer Issue Imagines the Future of Community," Elephant, July 13  Yerebakan, Osman Can. "How Two Artists Are Using the Subversive Power of Comics to Illustrate Injustice," Observer, June 16  Mafi, Nick. "Young Black Artists Speak About the Role of Art in This Moment," Architectural Digest, June 16  Izon, Juliet. "How Artists Are Using Their Work As a Protest Tool," Architectural Digest, June 5  Sayej, Nadja. "’I want to show solidarity’: how artists have reacted to George Floyd’s killing," The Guardian, June 3  Simon, Stephanie. "Artists Make Provocative Works As Part of Their Protest," NY 1, June 1  Brara, Noor. "‘This Is a Revolution’: 18 Artists From Coast to Coast Share What They Saw and Felt at the George Floyd Protests," Artnews, June 1 2019 Burger, Mark Alan. "Artist Kambui Olujimi Wants to Float Free," Interview, November 8  Purcell, Barbara. "Kambui Olujimi Speaks Art to Power in "Zulu Time"," The Austin Chronicle, March 15 2018 Deshpande, Pia. "Political art set to sweep billboards across 50 US states ahead of 2018 midterms," CNN, September 25  NJTV News. "Art installation revels in the intersection of art and tech," NJTV Public Broadcasting Service, November 30  Carey, Brainard. "Kambui Olujimi," Yale University Radio, April 6  Thomas, Hank Willis. "Hank Willis Thomas and Kambui Olujimi," Bomb Magazine, April 3  Rodney, Steph. "Watering the Imagination at the Spring Break Art Show," Hyperallergic, March 8  Cascone, Sarah. "Armory Week 2018: Your Go-To Guide for All the Art Fairs," ArtNet News, March 6 2017 Rodney, Seph. "Water as a Cinematic Metaphor for the Tides of Time," Hyperallergic, November 17  Gleisser, Faye R. "“unstable objects”," ArtForum, September  "Artist Kambui Olujimi Explores the Many Dimensions of Time," To The Best Of Our Knowledge, National Public Radio, August 12  Worland, Gayle. "Artist at MMOCA links time and Power Dynamics," Wisconsin State Journal, May 28  "Out on the Town: A curated listing of local entertainment," Wisconsin Gazette, May 18 2016 Castro, Jan Garden. "Kambui Olujimi," Sculpture Magazine, Oct  Lynne, Jessica. "Bearing Witness," Art21 Magazine, March/April  Castro, Jan Garden. "Solastalgia and Personalizing Displacement at CUE Art Foundation, New York," whitehot Magazine, July 2015 Ryzik, Melena. "Artists Equity to Reopen a Gallery on the Lower East Side," New York Times, October 17 2014 Johnson, Ken. "The Artist Next Door," New York Times, Oct 3  Steinhauer, Jillian. "A Survey of Art from Across Brooklyn," Hyperallergic, October 1  Pantuso, Phillip."CROSSING BROOKLYN: KAMBUI OLUJIMI, IN YOUR ABSENCE THE SKIES ARE ALL THE SAME," Brooklyn Magazine, November 7

**Publications**

  2021 "Fantasy America," The Andy Warhol Museum 2020 "Walk With Me," Exhibition Monograph, Project for Empty Space 2017 "Zulu Time," Exhibition Monograph, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art 2015 "Draw: Mapping Madness," Exhibition Monograph, Inside/Out Museum, pp.152-3 2012 "Wayward North," Exhibition Monograph, Art in General 2011 "Violence, Visual Culture, & the Black Male Body," Cassandra Jackson, published Routledge /UK 2007 "The Lost River’s Dreamers Index," Exhibition Monograph, Real Art Way 2006 "Frequency," The Studio Museum in Harlem, edited by Thelma Golden pp. 88-9  "Winter in America," 81 Press [W.I.A. is a collaboration with Hank Willis Thomas]  "Walk the Plank," Exhibition Monograph, Gallery 138 2003 "25 and Under photographers," PowerHouse/ C.D.S., edited by Iris Tillman Hill  "Trace Magazine," Vol. 41 pp. 32-36 2000 "Reflections in Black," W.W. Norton, edited by Deborah Willis p.189-90

**Residencies**

  2022 Yaddo, New York, NY  Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA  Kino Saito Arts Center, Verplanck, NY 2019 Black Rock, Dakar, Senegal 2018 The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH  Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA  Project for Empty Space, Newark, NJ 2017 Robert Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, FL  Open Space Labs, Ottawa, Canada 2015 Civitella Ranieri, Umbertide, Italy  Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic  LMCC: Process Space Residency, Manhattan, NY  The Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL 2013 Tropical Lab 7, Singapore 2010-2011 Acadia Summer Arts Program, Mount Desert Island, ME 2009 Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE  Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM 2009-2007 Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown (2nd Year Fellow), MA  Apexart: Outbound Residency to Kellerberin, Australia

**Commissions/Awards**

  2022 Andrew Mellon Foundation Grant 2021 Joan Mitchell Fellowship 2020 Colene Brown Prize 2019 Lighthouse Works Public Art Commission 2018 New York City MTA Arts & Design Commission 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship 2015 Urban Glass Merit Scholarship 2014 FSP/ Jerome Fellowship 2013 A Blade of Grass, Artist File Grantee 2008-2010 Art in General’s New Works Commission 2006 The Peekskill Project Public Art Initiative  Roma Independent Film Festival (Best Feature Nominee) 2004 The Brooklyn Icons Project  Jamaica Flux Public Art Project

**Public Collections**

   Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL  Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY  Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland OH  Light Works, Syracuse, NY  Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA  Nasher Museum, Durham, NC  Newark Museum, Newark, NJ  North Folk Bank, Jamaica, NY  Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA  Smart Museum, Chicago, IL  Studio Museum in Harlem, NY  The Bass, Miami, FL  Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY