Artist Dozie Kanu Intersecting Art and Design

Dozie Kanu is a Nigerian-American artist and designer who practice intersects art and design. The son of Nigerian immigrant parents Dozie was born in the US, and currently lives and works in Portugal and New York City. These multi-cultural experiences inform his creative expression and the stories he tells through the object he creates. His inspirations draw on the streets and environment where he grew up in Texas, and the traditions of African craftsmanship.

Furniture is a recurring subject for Dozie sculpture pieces that are at once fine art pieces and yet functional from a design perspective. He repurposes simple often discarded materials and in the process infusing them with new meaning through the objects they are used to create. 

In 2018 he visited Nigeria for the first time and references the experiences and materials he encountered in his work. As an American artist, Dozie is acutely aware of the lack of representation in the art and design world particularly when it comes to the exclusion of black people and his work opens up dialogue into exploring design from the experiences of the African diaspora.

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For more information about Dozie Kanu visit: https://doziekanu.com

– Tapiwa Matsinde

[Image credits: The images shown are sourced from/belong to Dozie Kanu; and RIMOWA. If downloaded and used elsewhere please credit accordingly.]