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b. 1996, USA. Lives and works in London
Unyimeabasi Udoh’s practice centres on legibility, the void, and the construction of meaning. Their art is largely one of appropriation and reproduction, with language as its primary material. Working across media including print, drawing, installation, and sculpture, they explore how systems—of communication, of knowledge, of beauty, of control—are built and maintained. Their interest in surface, opacity, and absence often manifests in pared-back works which destabilise expected correspondences between form and content. Udoh aims to reveal, through strategic withholding, the absurdity of the world we live in and the structures that support it.
Their work across media—print, drawing, sculpture, and installation—centres on legibility, the void, and the construction of meaning. By appropriating and reproducing images, objects, and language, Udoh explores the absurdity of the world we live in and the systems that support it. Recent exhibitions include Whipped at Under the Spell, London (2025); Flood at Piccalilli, London (2024); Ave at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2023); and Wayfinding at LVL3, Chicago (2022). Udoh holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Columbia University. They were the 2022–23 Starr Fellow at the Royal Academy of Arts.
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Starr Fellow at the Royal Academy of Arts (2022-23)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), MFA Visual Communication Design, 2019, New Artist Society Scholarship (2017-19), Deanís Scholarship (2017-19)
Columbia University, BA Architecture (magna cum laude), 2017
John Jay Scholar (2013-17)
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2024
Flood, Piccalilli, London
Withdrawing, Kip, London
2023
A Gain, Night CafÈ, London
Ave, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2022
Wayfinding, LVL3, Chicago (Two-person)
2021
Title Case, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago
2020
The Classics, The Silver Room, Chicago
Excavating Memory, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago (Two-person)
2018
circle sayings / circles saying, The Blue Parrot, Chicago
This Ad, SITE Galleries Wabash Window, Chicago
Group Exhibitions
2025
Maison CLEARING, CLEARING, Basel (Forthcoming)
Veil + Void, Xxijra Hii, London (Forthcoming)
Handful of Dust, Palmer, London
Whipped, Under the Spell, London
2024
Manifold, Al·ra, Lagos
ItinÈraires FantÙmes, CAPC MusÈe díart Contemporain de Bordeaux
Great Expectations, General Assembly, London
Bitch Magic, Alma Pearl, London
2022
Free + Open, Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago
CURB ALERT, Cosmos Carl, Online / Sudbury MA
Lifelinien, Scotty, Berlin
Diasporic Dysplasia, Bronx River Art Center, New York
I feel like a bootlegger's wife. Look!, Apparatus Projects, Chicago
2021
General Objects, Heaven Gallery, Chicago
RAISIN, 6018North, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago
HAS BEEN, Prizer Arts and Letters, Austin
Newcity Breakout Artists, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago
A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellowship Exhibition, Driehaus Museum, Chicago
Survey 2, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago
The We Series: Sleep, Elastic Arts, Chicago
2020
Exhibitionisms, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago
"At, For, By" at Artists Run Chicago 2.0, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
Open sheds used for what?, Chicago
2019
Post Millennium Tension, Porto Design Biennale, Porto PT
PolyPlay, ExTV, Chicago
2018
PolyPlay, ExTV, Chicago
Curatorial Projects
2019ñ2022
Art direction for Plates, an experimental journal of art and culture
2018
Dreams So Real, Joan Flasch Artistsí Book Collection, Chicago
Awards & Residencies
2022
Starr Fellowship, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Lunder Fellowship, Lunder Institute of American Art, Waterville ME
2021
Coney Family Fund Grantee, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago
2020
Black Artist Fund Grantee, New York
A Tale of Today: Emerging Artists Fellowship, Driehaus Museum, Chicago
HATCH Residency, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago
2019
ACRE Residency, Steuben WI
Press & Publications
2024
Fajemisin, Olamiju, ìHeritage Flux: A Lagos Art Week Diary,î†Hyundai Artlab (December)
Alexandra Grant and HÈlËne Cixous, ItinÈraires FantÙmes (X Artistsí Books, Los Angeles, 2024)
ìUnyimeabasi Udoh talks about their new artwork for St Jamesís,î SJP (March)
2022
ì23. Rohan Ayinde and Unyimeabasi Udoh,î Correspondence Archive (October)
Fouts, Ally. ìThe Object as a Lightning Rod For Meaning: A Review of General Objects,î Sixty Inches from Center (March)
2021
Alamo-Costello, Chester, "Unyimeabasi Udoh ñ Medium-Agnostic in Image & Text," The COMP Magazine (November)
Cardoza, Kerry, ìArt Top 5: October 2021,î Newcity (October)
Roach, Joan, ìArtist of the Week: Unyimeabasi Udoh,î LVL3 (August)
ìTop Five: July 1, 2021,î Glasstire (July)
Wilson, Leslie, ìInterview with Unyimeabasi Udoh,î Smart Museum of Art (May)
Waxman, Lori, ì60wrd/min COVID Edition: Is This Real?, Survey 2,î Newcity (April)
Singh, Pia, ìBreakout Artists 2021: Chicagoís Next Generation of Image Makers,î Newcity (March)
Waxman, Lori, ì60wrd/min COVID Edition: Excavating Memory, Melissa Stern, Alejandro Loureiro Lorenzo, Leviticus Shand,î Newcity (January)
2020
Roach, Amanda, ìReview: Exhibitionisms Virtual Viewing Room A, First Impressions,î Sixty Inches from Center (December)
Nafziger, Christina, ìOpen Sheds Used for What?: An interview with Cecilia & Marina Resende Santos,î Sixty Inches from Center (November)
Viral Ecologies, Issue No. 1 (September)
2019
Mackey, Susan, ìIn a (Black) Way // Three Chicago Artists Push the Limits of Blackness,î The Seen (July)
2018
ìPolyPlay 2018: Interview with Unyimeabasi Udoh, a Twine Text-Based Game Designer,î ExTV (August)
Collections
Joan Flasch Artists' Book Collection, Chicago
Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago
Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago