AKINSANYA KAMBON, Installation view of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Oct. 1-Dec.31, 2023. | Photo by Charles White
THE CERAMIC WORKS OF Akinsanya Kambon (b. 1946) have patinaed surfaces with a striking iridescent luster. Inspired by Black narratives and his pan-African beliefs, the figurative sculptures, vessels, and wall reliefs have garnered great interest over the past few years. Currently, they are featured in Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
Every two years, the museum showcases works by emerging and under-recognized artists based in the greater Los Angeles area. Kambon is among 38 participants invited to present work in the current edition of the biennial, which is on view through Dec. 31. He is showing 10 clay works made between circa 2015 and 2022, and they have been so well received, he won the biennial’s top prize.
Kambon is the recipient of the $100,000 Mohn Award honoring artistic excellence. The news was announced Dec. 7. In addition to the monetary award, the museum will publish a monograph dedicated to the artist’s work.
A three-member jury selected Kambon: Essence Harden, visual arts curator and program manager at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles; Ryan Inouye, curator of international art at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pa., and co-curator of the forthcoming 59th Carnegie International (2026); and Carla Acevedo-Yates, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
In a joint statement, the jurors said: “Akinsanya Kambon has developed a distinctive visual language that narrates episodes of violence, liberation, and revolution. His commitment to storytelling through form connects histories that span cities and continents through a Black diasporic and anti-imperialist lens. Through intricate ceramic vessels and wall reliefs that hold an intense emotional charge, the artist compels us to hold these complex histories close to the present as a call for radical social change and justice.”
“Akinsanya Kambon has developed a distinctive visual language that narrates episodes of violence, liberation, and revolution. His commitment to storytelling through form connects histories that span cities and continents through a Black diasporic and anti-imperialist lens.”
— 2023 Mohn Award Jury
Akinsanya Kambon. | Photo by Antonio Gilbreath
KAMBON WAS BORN in Sacramento, Calif. A U.S. Marine veteran, he served as a combat illustrator and infantryman (1966-68). Upon his return to Sacramento, he became lieutenant of culture for the local chapter of the Black Panther Party (1968-70). More than a dozen years ago, he retired from California State University, Long Beach, where he was a professor of art from 1984-2010. He continues to live and work in Long Beach.
Kambon’s work spans drawing, painting, bronze work, and ceramics. His highly glazed, incredibly detailed sculptures depict African deities and mythological figures. To produce the powerful works, he employs a Western version of raku, a firing technique with Japanese roots.
His practice is informed by his rich background, spiritual aspects of his firing methods, and extensive travels in Africa. The sculptures channel African Diasporic histories, Black resistance and resilience, and the artist’s commitment to community, storytelling, and knowledge sharing.
“American Expressions/African Roots: Akinsanya Kambon’s Ceramic Sculptures” (2020-21), the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition, was presented at Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, his hometown museum. In spring 2022, Kambon had a solo exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery, marking his New York City debut.
AKINSANYA KAMBON, Installation view of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Oct. 1-Dec.31, 2023. | Photo by Charles White
THE MOHN AWARD is supported by philanthropists and collectors Jarl and Pamela Mohn. Previous winners include Kandis Williams (2021), Lauren Halsey (2018), and Meleko Mokgosi, who received the inaugural award in 2012.
Artists invited to participate in Made in L.A. have historically skewed young, but in recent years curators have been regularly recognizing more mature artists. The latest edition includes five artists in their 70s and 80s who, after practicing for five decades or more, are finally receiving heightened attention. Kambon is among them.
“Akinsanya Kambon’s powerful ceramic sculptures are imbued with the stories of disturbing histories of colonization and subjugation,” Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin said. “He is well overdue for this recognition, and I am so pleased he is receiving the 2023 Mohn Award.” CT
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Made in L.A. 2923 artist Akinsanya Kambon on how his life experiences have motivated his practice. | Video by Hammer Museum
BOOKSHELF
The Mohn Prize includes the publication of a new, forthcoming monograph dedicated to Akinsanya Kambon’s work. The exhibition catalog “Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living,” documents the Hammer Museum biennial. Kambon created a Black Panther Coloring Book in 1968 that is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (acquired in 2019). “Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas” explores the work of the organization’s national minister of culture who also served as art director of The Black Panther newspaper.
