Kayode Ojo
the United States
1990
Kayode Ojo was born in Cookeville, Tennessee in 1990. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2012 and lives and works in New York.
Ojo's practice centers on found-object sculpture, sourcing materials from fast-fashion websites and online shopping platforms. He transforms mass-produced items—sequins, chrome finishes, crystal chandeliers, evening wear—into shimmering installations. His work navigates between the austerity of minimalism and the allure of luxury, revealing how material objects confer upon their owners a sense of transcending time, place, and social standing—a phenomenon that serves as both a medium of belonging and a source of instability. The sculptures are assembled without adhesive, held together solely by gravity, existing in a state of suspended, precarious balance. Their titles are drawn directly from the original e‑commerce product descriptions; these search-engine-optimized keywords function as cold consumerist poetry, exposing how individual desire is shaped, directed, and endowed with meaning within consumer society.
Recent solo exhibitions by Ojo include Recent exhibitions by Ojo include An angel is just a messenger, Maureen Paley (2025); Long Story Short, Museum Brandhorst (2025); Fictions of Display, Museum of Contemporary Art ( 2025); The Abstract Future, Jeffrey Deitch (2025); Eden, 52 Walker (2023); Could you bare Your Torso?, Università Iuav di Venezia (2022); Kayode Ojo, Zoe Leonard, Paula Cooper Gallery (2018).
His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); Museum Brandhorst, Munich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and the CCS Hessel Museum of Art, New York.
