At Galerie Krinzinger , Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola conjures an animal farm. While a herd of fifteen wood-carved goats roams around the gallery, one goat bears the face of Akinbola, caught in a process of objectification. Raised between the US and Nigeria, the artist reflects on the complexities of cultural exports in his latest exhibition.
Western Beef takes its title from a low-cost supermarket chain in New York City, heralded for its affordable meat supply. Akinbola finds interest in the implicit and explicit transformation of African cultural products by the time they touch down in the West. As a symbol of both food and fortune, he asks: “Is a goat better embodied by a wooden effigy or its skin rotating by conveyor?” Through a series of multi-textural installations, the exhibition brings every stage of the supply chain to center stage.
From birth to butcher, the goat is a launchpad for questions around race, commodity and mass production. Time moves slowly in the shiny silver limbo of “Carousel,” as hides endlessly circle the gallery. Meanwhile, exoticism and luxury take flight in “Raw Potential,” composed of a ready-for-export stack of Nigerian leather, typically used by high-end brands in the US and Europe.
Western Beef is anchored by Akinbola’s fascination with objects when they are taken from their original contexts and placed under an emblematic light. Charting through terrains of global production, Western Beef offers a dream of emergence, where identity.