Dozie Kanu

Dozie Kanu

BornNationalityBased In
1993American/NigerianNew York City, Santarém
Biography

Appropriating found objects and refashioning them to new aesthetics, Dozie Kanu creates sculptures and photography that are inherently disobedient and stubbornly slippery. They resist classification and exist instead as communicative or performative objects. Kanu’s ongoing investigation into the limits of form, functionality, materiality and usefulness are often filtered through a personal lens drawn from the artist’s lived experiences. In the artist’s debut solo exhibition at Project Native Informant, Owe Deed, One Deep, 2020, every sculpture remixes and modifies found objects, with the visible rust as a reminder of how readily items are discarded once they are deemed no longer productive. The repurposing of objects deemed useless, the artist honours and reanimates the people whose labour gave them function. In extending the lives of these unwanted items, he perpetuates the existence of those who brought them into being. His memorialisation is a site of collective mourning which has not yet ceased to exist, acknowledging that the pathways and legacies of the oppressive systems of the past continue to characterize the present. ...

Selected Artworks
Healthy Minds Must Grow, Watch From The Bleachers
Dozie Kanu
Healthy Minds Must Grow, Watch From The Bleachers, 2020
143 x 88 x 202cm
hemorrhaged and made deaf
Dozie Kanu
hemorrhaged and made deaf, 2020
62 x 58 x 82cm
Headboard (Abject Twin)
Dozie Kanu
Headboard (Abject Twin), 2021
181.6 x 107.3 x 29.2cm
At The Moment
Dozie Kanu
At The Moment, 2021
142.2 x 116.8 x 55.9cm
Chair [ v ] (Electric Chair)
Dozie Kanu
Chair [ v ] (Electric Chair), 2018
Emo State
Dozie Kanu
Emo State, 2020
31.5 x 26 x 3.5cm
merrill-y
Dozie Kanu
merrill-y, 2020
75.5 x 72.5 x 125cm
Headboard Trial
Dozie Kanu
Headboard Trial, 2021
75 x 134cm
Prediction
Dozie Kanu
Prediction, 2019
60 x 40 x 40cm
teepee home (Pro Impact)
Dozie Kanu
teepee home (Pro Impact), 2016
30.5 x 10 x 10cm
Bhad (Their Newborn’s Crib)
Dozie Kanu
Bhad (Their Newborn’s Crib), 2019
114 x 58 x 99cm
fire thumbnail gleam barely aware
Dozie Kanu
fire thumbnail gleam barely aware, 2023
73 x 51 x 51cm
hang something metric
Dozie Kanu
hang something metric, 2022
200 x 150 x 40cm
Chair [iii] Commission
Dozie Kanu
Chair [iii] Commission, 2018
94 x 48.3 x 42cm
Shrine On (Use a Pillow)
Dozie Kanu
Shrine On (Use a Pillow), 2019
106.7 x 69.9 x 67.3cm
AB (Blood Type)
Dozie Kanu
AB (Blood Type), 2021
44.5 x 36.8 x 36.8cm
negative (Blood Type)
Dozie Kanu
negative (Blood Type), 2021
57.1 x 38.1 x 43.5cm
Chair [ xiii ] (Stand Up) (Ja Rule)
Dozie Kanu
Chair [ xiii ] (Stand Up) (Ja Rule), 2019
119.5 x 64 x 54.5cm
Bench on 84s
Dozie Kanu
Bench on 84s, 2017
52.1 x 264.2 x 45.7cm
0’s and 1’s
Dozie Kanu
0’s and 1’s, 2020
54 x 38 x 38cm
Proper Distraction (Mirror)
Dozie Kanu
Proper Distraction (Mirror), 2019
86.4 x 67.3 x 4.5cm
hollow tips exhausted forcing light
Dozie Kanu
hollow tips exhausted forcing light, 2023
157 x 65 x 65cm
memories let me be (adornment slaughtered)
Dozie Kanu
memories let me be (adornment slaughtered), 2023
70 x 104.2 x 55cm
Headboard (a tribe sleep)
Dozie Kanu
Headboard (a tribe sleep), 2022
90 x 151 x 8cm
Student Loan Debt Relief 2
Dozie Kanu
Student Loan Debt Relief 2, 2019
44.5 x 27.9 x 27.9cm
Shack
Dozie Kanu
Shack, 2022
62.5 x 50 x 3cm
Gallery Representation
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