Marc Selwyn Fine Art is pleased to present Akinsanya Kambon, the gallery’s first exhibition of work by the artist.
Akinsanya Kambon, born Mark Teemer in Sacramento, California, is a former Marine, Black Panther, and art professor who lives and works in Long Beach. Kambon served in Vietnam as a Marine infantryman and combat illustrator. Upon returning to the U.S., he joined the Sacramento Chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and served as its Lieutenant of Culture. Kambon’s lifetime of service and artistic practice document suppressed histories and express the beauty of African heritage through drawing, painting, and sculpture. In 2023, Kambon won the prestigious Mohn Award given by the Hammer Museum for his participation in “Made in LA 2023: Acts of Living”. His life, work, and mission will also be the subject of a documentary film “The Hero Avenges” to be released later this year. Kambon will be the subject of an upcoming one-person exhibition at the Sculpture Center, New York, in May of 2026.
Kambon’s rich body of work is influenced by his Pan-Africanist beliefs, developed through his extensive travels through Africa beginning in 1974. Kambon explains, “I’ve looked at African spirituality and I like to incorporate what I’ve learned into my own work. My biggest influences have been my travels to Africa.” The show will include ceramic vessels, figures, and wall plaques that combine American historical narratives with African sculptural traditions.
To create his ceramics, Kambon uses a Western version of the Japanese Raku firing technique which adds a metallic luster to his glazed surfaces. This method of firing, which traps smoke in an enclosed space to interact with the glaze, produces an uncontrollable transformation which Kambon considers a spiritually guided aspect of this practice. He conducts kiln firings with a ceremonial approach, infusing life into figures that often embody African deities, spirits, or figures from American or religious history. His work, deeply rooted in narrative tradition and shaped by his personal experiences, celebrates themes of resilience through adversity, cultural pride, and his talent as a storyteller.
In ‘Black Butterfly,’ 2024, for example, Kambon depicts the figure of the Queen Mother butterfly of the Bobo people, who was sent by God to bring rain. In 'The Edler' Kambon portrays a strong warrior with a turtle on his head, a symbol of longevity and wisdom. Other figures are incorporated into vases and vessels, as in ‘Kemetic Gate Keepers’, 2015, where protectors of the spirit world are represented in the vessel’s handles and base. ‘The Ancestors,’ 2015, tells the story of the first humans on earth alongside the ‘primordial animals’ that preceded us.
Solo exhibitions include: Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (2022); Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, (2020); Pan African Art Gallery & Studio, Long Beach, California (1991); and the Oak Park School of Afro-American Thought, Sacramento City College (1969). Recent group exhibitions include those at Rowan University Art Gallery and Museum, Glassboro, NJ, (2025); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Oakland Museum of California (2016) and Joyce Gordon Gallery, Oakland (2016). He is the recipient of awards from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (2022); City of Long Beach (1996, 1994); County of Los Angeles (1994); and California Wellness Foundation, Violence Prevention Initiative (1993).