When the New York edition 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair opens on May 3 -7, 2017, London-based Tafeta Gallery will present Nigerian artists across two generations.
Niyi Olagunju’s Lega III (2017) Image courtesy of the artist and TAFETA. Photography; David Otokpa |
Booth B18 of Tafeta Gallery shows work that
spans from the early 1970’s through the present. The selection is a
presentation of disparate cultural references and variegated executions.
Enwonwu, a stalwart
figure in modern Nigerian art, is known
for his paintings and sculptures.
His acclaimed style is often celebrated for reifying Nigerian culture within a
rhythmic aesthetic of painting and sculpture. This is arguably influenced
by his education in Europe and his exposure to the indigenous art of
Nigeria. In the words of scholar Sylvester Ogbechie, “[Enwonwu’s] art was
circumscribed by a distinct condition of modernity, understood in this context
as the formulation and reformulation of artists and individuals in the face of
changing spatial and temporal experiences". Among the works exhibited
here is Woman Holding a Book. With its round, oblong face and folded
limbs, this ebony sculpture clearly articulates the hard edges and geometric
forms that appear across modern Nigerian Art. An additional Enwonwu sculpture,
Remi (1977), is a bronze cold cast bust that details the subject’s traditional
shuku hairstyle.
In her debut showcase
with Tafeta, Ogunbiyi’s works include meticulous graphite drawings on paper
from You Will, a series that the combines the geometry of the pineapple and
traditional Nigerian hairstyles. The resulting fusions of the two are
each titled as a contemporary Nigerian prayer. For the first time, she is
exhibiting a series of sculptures that were derived from one of these
renderings. An exploration of how traditional mediums can be inflected by
technology; these sculptures demonstrate Ogunbiyi’s commitment to mixed media
and her interest in leveraging accessible DIY platforms.
A contemporary
reflection on representation as cultural reliquary, Olatunji’s featured works
use portraiture to highlight different forms of facial scarification found in
Nigerian communities. Each rendering portrays a unique, fictitious
character. Without looking at photographs, the trained botanist uses his
understanding of three-dimensional form to construct characters that embody the
familiar—the young boy, the grey-haired elder, or the middle-aged man.
The paintings featured here include the last works of this series.
Olagunju also confronts
the notion of representing cultural tropes. Shown here are works from his
Congo series, which consist of bisected sculptures with their inner surfaces
gilded in precious metals. The choice of metal corresponds with the
region of each sculpture’s origin. Also on view are his new works made
from shells of ekpiri seeds. These are typically strung together as beads to
create anklets worn in Igbo dance. Stringing these seeds in rows, the artist
gilds the seeds in various precious and semi-precious metal leaves to conceal
the earth tones of these objects. Minimalist invocations of dynamic subjects,
the series demonstrates Olagunju’s propensity towards reconfiguring
historicized matter.
Together, the works
demonstrate Tafeta’s commitment to innovative modern and contemporary African
Art. This presentation is a continuation of the gallery’s work to
introduce these artists to new audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment