Five contemporary Nigerian artists – United States-based Nnenna Okore; Sokari Douglas-Camp; Kelani Abass; Alimi Adewale and Johnson Uwadinma – will feature at the Art X Lagos, opening on November 2 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. The artists will feature under the aegis of Art House-The Space Works at Booth 14 of the annual art fair, which will end on November 4.
Adewale, a painter and sculptor, explores social issues within urban spaces. His portraits and landscapes combine elements of minimalism and abstraction to evoke the movement and intensity of the city and its inhabitants. In his sculptures, Adewale evokes a myriad of characters, from the anonymous to the politician, which he carves out of wood. In other series, Adewale paints fashionable Lagos women posing in their Sunday best.
For Abass, a Yaba College of Technology-trained artist, he is probing the shared history and character of man and machines through a wide range of different media including photography, printing, painting and installation, using archival materials. In Casing History, Abass uses old letterpress cases as material support for collections of archival photographs, highlighting personal stories against the background of social and political events.
But for Douglas-Camp, United Kingdom-based, who is inspired by her Kalabari heritage and broader aspects of African culture, creating steel sculptures that explore social and political life in Nigeria, her works have dealt with wide ranging issues in Nigeria, from its colonial past to environmental concerns. She executes them with elemental forms and scraps of discarded metals.
Another artist, Okore, creates sculptures and installations that combine natural and discarded materials to produce abstract, richly-textured forms. Working with the processes of weaving, sewing, twisting and dying, Okore is inspired by the rhythms and contours of everyday life. Her work focuses on the concepts of recycling, transformation and regeneration of forms based on observations from ecological and man-made environments.
Uwadinma’s paintings feature tessellating hues and multiple textures, exploring the dynamics within Nigerian historiographies and the difficulties associated with transcending individual and collective memory.
Arthouse-The Space is a satellite initiative of Arthouse Contemporary, West Africa’s leading auction house of modern and contemporary African arts. Founded in 2007, Arthouse Contemporary aims to create awareness of the scope of contemporary art in the region, encourage international recognition towards its talented artists and strengthen the economy of its art market. Since its inception, Arthouse-The Space has organised exhibitions of contemporary artists, including Peju Alatise; Diseye Tantua; Victor Ekpuk; Yusuf Grillo; Chidi Kwubiri; Eva Obodo; Emeka Udemba and George Osodi, as well as international art fairs, including Art14 London and Art X Lagos.
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