Masud Olufani American, b. 1969

Overview
Rhythm Section, 2022
Rhythm Section, 2022

"My devotion to craft and the slow methodical realization of an idea in visual form reflects my belief in the maker’s ability to imbue the object with spirit through physical labor, fueled by vision and creativity.  My work is often layered with multiple  references and meanings that avoid trite summations."

 

- Masud Olufani

Masud Olufani explores the resonance of memory in his practice;  the narrative traditions of African, and African-American folklore; and methodologies of constuctive resilience implemented by marginalized communities to maintain cohesion and ensure survival.  Olufani works with a disparate assortment of materials and studio methods to investigate how objects operate in both the objective and subjective realities, and how history tethers those objects to individual and collective memory while addressing issues such as social marginalization; racial justice, and iterations of spiritual resistance.  A prevailing archetype in the conceptual framework of Olufani's work is that of the “trickster”, who exists at the crossroads; the meeting place between opposing ideas.  At this intersection of possibilities where we are asked to choose, to interpret a set of visual indicators which point towards a direction without being didactic.  It is the elasticity of the visual language; it’s ability to expand and contract--accommodating multiple meanings--that compels and inspires.

 

 

Works
Rhythm Section, 2022
Biography
Masud Olufani
Masud Olufani

Masud Olufani is an Atlanta based multidisciplinary artist born in Los Angeles and raised in New York City, New Orleans, Miami, Dallas and Atlanta. He is a graduate of Morehouse College, and The Savannah College of Art and Design where he earned an M.F.A. in sculpture in 2013. Masud has exhibited his work in group and solo shows nationally and internationally. He is the 2021-22’ inaugural Visual Arts Fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.

 

The artist has completed residencies at The Vermont Studio Center; The Hambidge Center for Arts and Sciences; and Creative Currents in Portobello, Panama. He is a 2017 Southern Arts Prize State Fellow; a recipient of a 2015 and 2018 Idea Capital Grant; a Southwest Airlines Art and Social Engagement grant; and a recipient of 2015-16’ MOCA GA Working Artist Project Grant. He is the creative director of Blocked: A Global Healing Project, an multimedia performance created to memorialize spaces marked by the trauma of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As an actor, he had a recurring role on the BET series The Quad, and has appeared in numerous television shows including Greenleaf; Being Mary Jane, Devious Maids, Satisfaction, and Nashville.

 

He is a featured actor in the film biopic All Eyez on Me. He was the co-host of the PBS news based investigative journalism show Retroreport, which aired nationally in 2019. He is the co-host of Undaunted, a new podcast series that centers the work of social change makers. As a writer, Masud has published articles for Burnaway; Baha'i Teachings; and is a featured contributor for the Jacob Lawrence Struggle Series catalog, produced to coincide with a major exhibition of the Struggle Series paintings. His untitled memoir is currently in development. 

 

 

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