Obi Agwam

Picture Theory is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Obi Agwam (b. 1999, Nigeria). Drawing from journal entries, conversations, and moments of introspection, Agwam begins with a recurring question: “If this memory were a person, what would it look like?”

Agwam’s visual language brings together American cartooning, African American imagery, and traditions of figurative painting. Exaggerated features, graphic forms, and the visual shorthand of animation reflect his longstanding interest in cartoons, particularly in the representation of Black figures within popular culture. Drawing from this vocabulary, Agwam constructs a cast of fictional subjects whose forms shift between the familiar and the invented.

Obi Agwam (b. 1999, Lagos) is a Nigerian born artist raised in Jamaica, Queens. Agwam received his BFA in Painting from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2022. He was the 2025–26 Starr Fellow at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. His work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, Harkawik, James Fuentes, New Image Art, 1969 Gallery, Regular Normal and is held in the collections of the Rubell Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts.