en-ca Ekow Nimako

en-ca Canadian

en-ca Ekow Nimako is a Toronto-based, internationally exhibiting LEGO® artist who crafts futuristic and whimsical sculptures from the iconic medium. Rooted in his childhood hobby and intrinsic creativity, Nimako’s formal arts education and background as a lifelong multidisciplinary artist inform his process and signature aesthetic. His fluid building style, coupled with the Afrofuturistic themes of his work, beautifully transcend the geometric medium to embody organic and fantastical silhouettes.

His large scale public installations include the monumental Cavalier Noir (Nuit Blanche, 2018) which features a seven-foot Black rider atop a dauntless Black unicorn. Conceptualized in collaboration with Director X, the piece subverts the dominant imagination of public monuments and centres Black narratives.

Nimako’s installation To Feed the Village, the Young Must Grow debuted at Berlin’s Urban Contemporary Art Biennale (Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, 2019) alongside other internationally renowned visual artists. The touring group show Brick by Brick features several works from his Building Black Mythos series and continues touring the UK until 2023 (20-21 Visual Arts Centre, UK, 2019).

Nimako’s medieval Africa inspired series Building Black Civilizations opened in 2019 at the Aga Khan Museum. The architectural and imaginative pieces explore the untold narratives of sub-Saharan Africa during the middle ages, with detailed references to architecture, Islamic civilizations and Africanfuturism. The anticipated sequel to this exhibition, Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2000 Ships premieres at Dunlop gallery in Regina in the fall of 2022.

Nimako’s body of work Building Black AMORPHIA presents artworks that thread together elements of West African mask making traditions, fauna and organic forms to create an amorphous and fantastical tapestry. This wall-mounted series displayed at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto from January to June 2020. Exhibition plans for AMORPHIA II: Spiritual Starships are currently underway.

Nimako’s work has been featured in media outlets and publications such as NOW Magazine, esse, Studio Magazine, CBC, CBC Radio, Global News, TorontoLife, VICE, BBC, Toronto Star, BlogTO, DAZED, Yanko Design, CNN, SHARP, Hyperallergic, Colossal, and the Globe and Mail. He is a published author of Beasts from Bricks (Quarry Books, 2017) an instructional book featuring miniature sculptures of rare and beautiful animals with an elevated aesthetic.

Formalizing his official partnership with the LEGO group in 2022, Nimako’s art practice, creative process, and instructional workshop Building Beyond were highlighted in the D&AD Award-winning documentary short Rebuild the World directed by LeSean Harris of Fela.tv.

en-ca Ekow Nimako

Artists