b. 2000, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
As a multidisciplinary artist, Gbenga works across photo, video, textile, and sculpture - often exploring their intersections. Their third-culture childhood, having grown up in seven countries, has inspired a considered yet carefree approach. This upbringing is visible in Gbenga’s work as they play with the ideas of subjective identity, cultural symbolism, and collective nostalgia (or the lack thereof).
Gbenga draws inspiration from parallels between the traditional African art practices looted from his Yoruba ancestors and the innovative craftsmanship of mid-20th-century queer and black American communities, both being pillars of postmodern abstraction. Through their introspective and process-driven practice, Gbenga meditates on the often unrewarded labor of their queer and diasporic forefolks, who envisioned utopia through experimentation and worked to actualize this vision through the radical act of survival.
Selected Group Exhibitions
In the Midst of the Imagined, Residency: Project Space, Los Angeles, CA
Our Truths, Be Told, LACP, Los Angeles, CA
LA Currents Curated by Shelley Holcomb, TBN Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Felix Art Fair, Residency Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
All About Love, Vision98, Los Angeles, CA
Artist’s Corner curated by Autumn Breon, Blackbird House, Los Angeles, CA
Reflect Revise Reimagine, BXD, Los Angeles, CA
A Thumbnail Sketch, CUE Arts, New York, NY
Safety Protocols, USC Roski Lindhurst Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Outside Looking In, BXD Virtual Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Point Blank, Ghost Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
BLUR, Chewing Foil, Los Angeles, CA
Don’t Trip, Ghost Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Commissions
Union LA x Air Jordan Mural, Los Angeles, CA
Everybody World short film, Los Angeles, CA
Phlemuns Photobook, Los Angeles, CA
Awards, Fellowships, and Residencies
2023 Outfest Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Hillman Grad & Indeed Rising Voices Director’s Grant, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Urbanworld Film Festival, 100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu, New York, NY
2022 Leeds International Film Festival, 100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu, UK
2022 Calgary International Film Festival, 100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu, CA
2022 Tribeca Film Festival, 100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu, New York, NY
2022 Slamdance Film Festival, Winter Insect Summer Flower, Park City, UT
2021 California Arts Council Emerging Artist Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA
2021 ZEAL Artist Incubator, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Fashion Scholarship Fund Grant, New York, NY
Press
DAZED Magazine, This Film About Trans Life Trades Trauma For the Truth, Jan 3, 2023
Variety Magazine, Tofu Flips the Script for the Transgender Community, Jun 19, 2022
Variety Magazine, Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions…, Feb 24, 2022
HorrorBuzz, Winter Insect, Summer Flower, Slamdance, Feb 6, 2022
Variety Magazine, Slamdance Keeps Its Edge With Buzzy Titles…, Jan 21, 2022
Flaunt Magazine, Winter Insect Summer Flower, Jan 21, 2022
Ariel Katz, Exploring and Experimenting with Gbenga, November 18, 2020
Faiz Haque, The Gbenga Interview, July 29, 2020
Olivia Dewitt, Intro: Works by Gbenga, April 20, 2020
Local Stories, Meet Gbenga Komolafe, August 12, 2019
