Clement Akpang

Bio

Clement Akpang’s teaching and research interests include modern and contemporary African art from the early twentieth century to the present, with particular emphasis on avant-gardes of 20th-century Africa, art and decolonization advocacies, and new expressions of resistance or socio-political commentary in contemporary African art. He is also interested in the cultural significance of found objects in art. His first book, Nigerian Modernism 1900-1965: Anti-Europeanization, Nationalism and Avant-garde Art (University of Calabar Press, 2019), explores the intersection of modern art, nationalism, and decolonization politics in Nigeria. His second, titled Analyzing Art: A Short Guide to Art Appreciation, Criticism and Research in Visual Arts (University of Calabar Press, 2020), is a textbook that provides practical frameworks for conducting formal and contextual analysis in visual arts for Nigerian universities and colleges.

Prior to arriving at GW, Clement Akpang taught at two universities in Nigeria. He also held a Junior Core Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies and a Core Fellowship at the Global Institute for Advanced Studies, both at Central European University, CEU in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, he was also a Senior Fellow in Art History at Univerzita Komenského in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Current Research

• Cultural-specificity of the found object.
• Repatriation, (mis)representation, and the future of African art in post-imperial Europe.
• Resistance and socio-political commentary in contemporary African art.

Professional Organizations

• College Art Association, member
• Arts Council of the African Studies Association, member
• International Journal of Art and Culture Studies, reviewer

Publications

• Nigerian Modernism 1900-1965: Anti-Europeanisation, Nationalism and Avant-garde Art (University of Calabar Press, 2019).
• Analysing Art: A Short Guide to Art Appreciation, Criticism and Research in Visual Arts (University of Calabar Press, 2020).

Selected articles include:

• “Cultural Ramifications of the Found Object in Contemporary African Art,” International Journal of Multiculturalism, Vol.2, no. 1 (2021): 50-74.
• “Contemporary Discourse and The Oblique Narrative of Avant-Gardism in Twentieth-Century Nigerian Art,” International Journal of Cultural and Art Studies (IJCAS) Vol. 4, no.1 (2020): 9-22.
• “Nollywood and Churches’ Oriental Fantasies: Its Impact on Art Reception, Patronage, and Expression in Contemporary Nigeria,” Britain International of Humanities and Social Sciences BIoHS Journal, Vol 2, no.2 (2020): 594-602
• “Images that Speak: Delineating Nigeria’s Modernity through the Graphic Configuration of Postage Stamps,” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6, no.4 (2015): 47-59.
• “Beyond Anthropological and Associational Discourse: Interrogating the Minimalism of Ikom Monoliths as Concept and Found Object Art,” Global Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, 2, no.1 (2014): 67-84.
• “Traditionalism in Contemporary Art: Re-contextualizing African Ideographs through Hybrid Aesthetics,” Arts and Design Studies, 11 (2013): 25-36.
• “Found Object, Recycled Art, Readymade or Junk Art? Ambiguity in Modern African Art,” Arts and Design Studies, 12, no.1 (2013): 41-48.

Education

BA in Visual Arts and Technology, Cross River University of Technology, Nigeria
MA in Art and Design, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
PhD in Art, Art Theory/History, University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom