Noni Olabisi
Fall 2021 Artist in Residence
“As an artist, my intention is to create artwork that speaks to the heart and soul of mankind, invoking self examination. I believe my art provides a journey that leads us all to the discovery of the one thing we all have in common, light! The light unites us all to the realization, we are all related.
The Yellow Dot on mostly everything I paint is a representation of the Sun within as well as without. It is the giver of life. It’s also my way of honoring, paying homage and my gratitude for life, that connects us all as one.”
-Noni Olabisi, Fall 2021 AiR
Artist Statement
From St. Louis, Missouri, Olabisi is a self taught artist whose artwork focuses on themes rooted in the history and traditions of the African and African American experience. It depicts the endurance of spirit maintained by Africans born in America and speaks to the need to continue the perseverance for justice and equality.
Her contributions to the legacy or mural art and art in general in Los Angeles spans 30 years and includes being awarded for her contributions to public art, being a recipient of the CCF Individual Artist Fellowship and having one of her murals featured in a PBS documentary featuring Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
During her residency, Olabisi will focus on works on canvas continuing to focus on the sun - the yellow dot - as her focus. She states, “Everything will be centered around light , giving it the attention it so deserve. We have forgotten how to look up. To give thanks and appreciation for life. Without the light everything dies , it simply just dry up. And if we observe closely all life leans toward the light even our souls I believe returns back to the light.”
Art is my profession , it is my gift to the world, and having this residency, allows for the expansion of the mind to the awareness of being grateful and being made consciously aware that there is no higher service than to use the gift bestow upon me for the service of the Will of The Most High. Believing that the Most High is the sustainer of life and the provider of ever.
Noni Olabisi
On Becoming
January 3 - February 12, 2022
The work explores and celebrates Noni's journey throughout her residency, as she deepened her relationship with her inner child, God, and play.
The work is deep and moving: bold blues, reds, and yellows tangle and separate across her series of multi-dimensional paintings. In this work, Noni moves coyly between abstraction and representation, hearkening to the complex subconscious well that lives within all of us.
As she says about the work, "On Becoming is about the inner - child becoming visible, full of Light, Love and Imagination."
