Dozie Kanu Champions Sculptural Alchemy in New Milan Show

Some artists look to break boundaries; Dozie Kanu prefers to dismantle them and see what’s left standing. Working at the intersection of fine art, design and social critique, Kanu’s practice culls from personal histories and the weight of the everyday world only to emerge as something entirely new – part relic, part provocation and part poetic sleight of hand.

For his latest solo exhibition at Federico Vavassori in Milan, not opposed to tossing bricks into the quotidian, your honour, Kanu gives a new life industrial remnants and found materials – car rims, chain links, shattered ceramics – reconsidering the idea of worth, function and utility. Through these interventions, the artist expands on his sculptural alchemy, a critical aspect of his ongoing dialogue with mass media, pop culture and inherited narratives.

Helmed by ideas of change, this body of work was born out of a crucial period in Kanu’s life: “It came at a moment when I had to find the strength to continue creating after the death of my father, who was a profound influence in my life.” This grief lingers in pieces like Headboard (chirp if you hear me), where an old cell phone, that once belonging to his father is ensnared in a cat’s cradle of steel wire, a toy bird perched on the structure’s edge. “The process was raw, unfamiliar and ultimately transformative – and all of that lives within the objects themselves.”

In song with the artworks, Kanu invites viewers to consider exhibition-making as a contemplative act. “The weight of a material, a subtle scent in the air, the emotional resonance of an object – even the most intangible [elements] come together to form an experience that speaks not just to the eyes, but to the body and the spirit.”

not opposed to tossing bricks into the quotidian, your honour is now on view in Milan through April 30.

Galleria Federico Vavassori
Via Giorgio Giulini, 5,
20123 Milano MI, Italy