Kehinde Wiley Celebrates the Trans Women of Tahiti

“Tahiti Confronts the Legacy of Paul Gauguin“

Kehinde Wiley who is best known for his Obama art portrait now has series of his work on display in Paris.

Tahiti features images from the lives and times of the Tahiti’s Māhū community, A Polynesian term for people who identify as gender other than male or female.

These feature also pays tribute to Paul Gauguin who was the first person to visit the Tahiti community in 1890. Kehinde’s work is a question to societal norms and ethics as it looks deep to celebrate the Tahiti trans community as it challenges the social construct on gender.

A further look into his new series depicts and re-examines the French colonial legacy. ‘Tahiti’ will be Kehinde Wiley’s first exhibition in Paris since 2016, to be exhibited at the ‘Petite Palais’ The exhibition will also include a video installation depicting his time spent in Tahiti, in addition to the paintings. The show will remain on display until July 20.

Wiley has in the past had solo exhibitions in cities such as St. Louis, New York and Brussels. His 2018 portrait of former President Barack Obama remained one of his most remarkable and marked the first time an African-American artist painted an official U.S. Presidential portrait, and was revealed alongside Amy Sherald‘s portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Biography

Kehinde Wiley was born in Born in 1977 in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works between New York, Beijing, and Dakar. 

Kehinde Wiley graduated from Yale University in 2001 and completed a residency at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2002. In 2018 he became the first African-American artist to paint an official U.S. Presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Former U.S. President Barack Obama selected the artist for this honor. 

Kehinde Wiley has held solo exhibitions at institutions across the United States and Europe including: Brooklyn Museum, New York; Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels;Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; the Petit Palais, Paris; Saint Louis Museum of Art, Missouri; and Seattle Art Museum, Washington. His works are included in the collections of numerous public institutions.

In June 2019 in Dakar, Senegal, Kehinde Wiley will inaugurate a new multi-disciplinary artist-in-residency program, Black Rock Senegal.

A look inside Victor Ehikhamenor’s Mind in his Daydream Estorica Solo Exhibition

Victor Ehikamenor is as creative as can be, The creative who bags being a visual artist, writer and photographer to his portfolio among many things has made a comeback to the creative scene in his latest solo exhibition in Lagos.

He also has an arsenal of achievements and features among which his arts have appeared on the cover of the multiple award-winning novels by Prolific Nigerian Writer Chimamanda Adichie and Helon Habila; Victor has also published a poetry collection, ‘Sordid Tales’, and several others.

Although very little has been heard from him in the past years, we are glad for this mind blowing Comeback that featured Rele Gallery in the Public exhibition of his latest piece of work titled ‘Daydream Esoterica’.

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The Body Of Work In The Series Takes An Introspective Look At The Artist A Conscious Contemporary Nomad Living, Leaving And Thriving In A City That Feeds Its Inhabitants’ Dreams And Frustration And By Its Sheer Nature Demands That In Order To Survive – One Must Daydream”.

Rele Gallery

Just as the title suggests, ‘Daydream Esoterica’ draws inpiration from traditional motifs and religious cosmology. Announcing the exhibition’s launch with a picture at the installation—made from thousands of plastic sunglasses— “Daydreamer’s Paradise (Dream for Free)”

As Kids When We Wore Our Plastic Colourful Sunglasses, Our Honest Dreams Began…We Walked On Air Because The Glasses Changed The Village Topography To A Dreamland. I Welcome You To My Dreamer’s Paradise Where Uwessan Village Meets Lagos Balogun And Sura Markets. May Your Dreams Come True!”

Victor Ehikhamenor

Toyin Portrays Black Skin as Textured And Diverse In ‘Testing The Name’

Visual artist Toyin Ojih Odutola’s new collection of drawings is a playful but also a pensive movement of power and a representation in conventional art in every way.

‘Testing the Name’ which is the next chapter in a fictional story about two Nigerian aristocratic families who are joined by the marriage of two men.

Combining traditional portraiture, which historically only featured white subjects and modern techniques, Odutola builds a very interesting narrative based on personal observations and her inner circle.

The collection which was featured in her solo exhibition at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, until September 2018 had previous works from this ongoing story featured at Whitney Museum in the recent exhibition.

She depicts her scenes in pastel, pencil and charcoal, enabling her to create layered drawings that explore the construct of skin colour. Instead of the basics of either black or white, Odutola transforms skin complexion into complex shaded strands.

Ojih Odutola was recently honoured by Amref Health Africa at the ArtBall where she received the Rees Visionary Award. ArtBall is a contemporary African art auction and philanthropic event that aims to raise funds and awareness for Amref Health Africa.

Nigerian Artist Dabbles In 3D Printing For His Debut Sculpture Pieces

Meet Dennis Osadebe, The Neo-African and pop-art Sculptor who continues to push his ideas forward to the light in ‘Stand For Something’

Dennis Osadebe

Dennis continues to push the envelope with his standout pop-art style. The Nigerian mixed-media artist steps into the realm of sculpture with his new piece, Stand For Something—a declaration of his Neo-African movement.

The Consultant

With each piece comes a reminder that Neo-African Movement is something to stand for. From the combination of streets with the traditional
stand For Something is a reflection of the Nigeria Osadebe knows today—a Nigeria of progress.

Stand For Something was made in collaboration with Unique Board—a New York-based platform that collaborates with visual artists to create limited edition, 3D-printed sculptures. Osadebe continues to ruminate and think critically about his view of the world and his place in it. He invites us to do the same.

Here’s a peak at the work

Image Credit – Osadebe

Image Credit – Osadebe

Image Credit – Osadebe

Want to keep up with the Artist? Here’s a link to his social media accounts –
 Instagram, Twitter and his website.

How Memes Are Influencing Modern Culture

Ever wondered where the word meme comes from? Well, here is a quick fact about memes as you know it.

The word “meme” was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads (Kind of like what memes are right?), the concept of the Internet meme was first proposed by Mike Godwin in the June 1993 issue of Wired.

In pop culture today, memes are just more than how Richard Dawkins describes it to be. Memes today are part of the internet explicit way of describing a situation or whatever.

So Here’s How Memes Are Influencing Modern Culture

Texting

One very good thing memes have been able to do is it’s complete fusion with texting. What’s a text without a supporting Meme… I know right?

Every Content Has A Meme

So if you take a look at contents from way back 2005 and compare them to what you see and read today, the differences are usually clear. Everything has a meme for it today and there is always a meme for everything!!!

The Perfect Brand Helper

You would probably have never bought that pair of shoes if it wasn’t featured in a dope meme. This is another way memes are influencing modern culture in both arts and commerce.

Memes are here and it safe to say that they will be here for a longer period of time as these our little friends have more words to say for us than we actually want

READ NEXT: Five Of The Best Nigerian Portrait Photographers

READ ALSO: The Psychedelic art of Mowalola Ogunlesi

“Everything is My Canvas” Watch Laolu Senbanjo’s TED Talk on the ‘Sacred Art of the Ori’

Nigerian artist Laolu Senbanjo is not a stranger to all followers and lovers of art, he has been putting the Yoruba culture on the map through his art for some time now. Early this year, Bvlgari used his Yoruba tribal art for the release of their limited edition of Man in Black essence.

In line with the wave his creating, Laolu gave a TED Talk at the TED2017 Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, CA in April 2017.

His talk “Sacred Art of the Ori”  shares his experience and making a life altering decision to give up his profession as Human Rights Lawyer to chase his dream of doing Art full time.

In his talk, he speaks about this path and how he found his mantra, “Everything is my Canvas” how he started his Performance Art the Sacred Art of the Ori and how he had the opportunity to work with Beyonce.

Laolu also discusses the importance of the necessary shift in African culture on weighing importance and respect in the Arts and valuing its culture and more.

Watch the video below..

“We Are The North” art exhibition by Williams Chechet comes to Lagos

Nigeria-born Williams Chechet is the supremely talented graphics designer, illustrator and muralist responsible for globally acclaimed contemporary art pieces.

His latest art project, We are the North, is a series of beautiful illustrations from Northern Nigeria, where Williams was raised, influenced by pop art – an art movement which involves imagery from popular culture being visually removed from its known context, isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material.

The We are the North will be exhibiting for the first time at The Moorhouse Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos in conjunction with Alliance Français de Lagos. The exhibition opens on the 3^rd of June at 5pm and the pieces will show till the 16^th of June.

The event is free and you can RSVP for the opening day event here: wearethenorth.rsvpify.com

Lawyartist takes us through his amazing illustrations, inspiration and art in Nigeria.

Tell us a bit about your background? When did you get into arts?

I am a young lawyer and an old artist as I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon. I was not great from birth but my parents who noticed I liked to scribble stick figures and trees encouraged me.

However, I always took my ability to draw for granted until late 2014, when I decided to start drawing every single day to hone my skills. Up until that point, I had gone years without drawing because well, I felt I could, so why bother?

A Lawyer and an artist how do/did you pull this off?

Even I don’t have the answer to this question, as they are both quite demanding. I guess I use all my spare time and a little bit of the time meant for sleep to sketch, paint and draw. This is necessary as both law and art are quite time-consuming, if you wish to be remarkable that is.

How has your art changed over time?

This is the first time I have actually had to consciously consider this. Well, the most obvious changes are my hands have grown even steadier and I am more confident in my choice of colours. Another recent change has been my last few pieces that have been done on canvas.

The biggest change however has been my willingness to dabble in abstract art over the past two months. I want to start appealing to an older audience while retaining my growing reputation as  ‘cartoonist’. I’m sure you are starting to see a ‘you can’t hold me down’ pattern forming here.

How important is an awesome website for your business?

I don’t have a website per se yet but I do have a presence on all social media. Social media is crucial to selling my art and creating a fanbase. My kind of art is obviously visual and therefore must be easy to show people and potential clients.

I look forward to running my own website soon but I need the fanbase first, I don’t want a cobweb collecting website.

What colours inspire you?

As a child, red and blue. Now I love purple. But I’m not bent on getting things in purple or anything like that, in fact I don’t own anything in purple. I just like purple a little more than other colours.

A website and/or blog you visit often?

YouTube! I learn so much about everything from it. I visit my favourite YouTube channel in the world everyday (I don’t watch TV). The channel is called WatchMojo and is essentially a collection of random facts about movies, anime, pop culture and life in general.  www.youtube.com/Watchmojo

What do you do in your free time?

Make art. Before I became Lawyartist, I was a gym rat. Now, I try to squeeze in a little exercise so I remain fit, but all my free time is primarily for art. Planning my next art move or drawing or both.

Your thoughts on the Future of Art in Nigeria?

The future of art in Nigeria is exciting! Really breaking away from the old, boring and ultra conservative standards we grew up with. Now you see a Nigerian artist’s work and not even know he’s African. Formerly, an oil painting of marketwomen selling oranges was the standard and a dead giveaway. Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

The Nigerian art scene is really changing and this is so exciting.

Something that is overrated?

Wolverine (Logan)

Ever tried portrait art? If yes, how did it go?

Yes I have, I find it extremely limiting and boring. I can’t play with any elements of the drawing because it’s a real person and has to look like a real person at the end.

The portraits I have done have gone fairly well. Drawn my Mum, Beckham, Adele etc. Miniature portraits but portraits nonetheless.

What’s your current obsession and how is it feeding into your work?

Current obsession has to be making the size of my artwork bigger and getting good at digital art, the latter remains so confusing to me, however I plan on conquering it before the year runs out.

Already started drawing on large canvases, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m trying to get my work displayed in galleries across Lagos for starters. I have lofty dreams, so I’m constantly working towards them materializing.

For more delightful images

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Niyi Okeowo, __TSE and more showcase works at “Afrikulture” Exhibition

Creative expressions emerge out of the need to adapt or die out. Push boundaries or stay redundant and dated. Afrikulture explores through various visual artists how these boundaries can be pushed through exploring various art media as seen at the April event.  

Rewa moves through Societal, Racial and Cultural boundaries with “The Travellers” series

‘We speak to Rewa about “The Travelers, Rele Foundation and plans for the future’.

How is your day going so far? 

Its great so far – thank you 😊

 

Please, Tell us about your experience being one of the Rele Foundation’s Young Contemporaries 2017.

 It was a wonderful experience – got to meet a lot of wonderful artists and learned a lot in the process. Also acted as a springboard into other avenues.

What did you enjoy most about it entire experience creating “Travelers”?

 The many hours of peace that they gave me.

What inspired you to create “Travelers” ?

My experiences in other cities.

 

Give us a sneak peek, Are we going to see more ‘Travelers’ pieces later in the year? Where is the next destination?

Haha I’m afraid you won’t see any more of The Travellers. They serves their purpose and their spirits are gone. The next destination is Zimbabwe, let’s see what that unfolds…

 

Thank you for your time 🙂

Marcellina Oseghale turns the Sounds of Childhood into art

Before we begin, How are you this lovely morning and how is the family?

I’m good and my family is doing well.

How was your experience being one of the Young Contemporaries 2017?

I am excited to have being selected as one of the ReLe Art Foundation Young Contemporaries 2017. I’m grateful for the opportunity to show my works on a platform like this to the public. It’s good to be a part of ReLe’s journey and I commend them for a job well done.

How long did your exhibition work take to create? What is your process?

The works were created within 5 weeks . I sourced for the Ankara fabrics from different tailors. I decided on a theme, made research and Got the canvas ready for work. Afterwards, I sketched and then glue the fabrics on it. First swatch of fabrics, second swatch of fabrics and gradually my canvas took form.

What were your biggest challenges?

The high cost of materials affected the availability of some products in the market. So there was a need to try out new ones. Colors and other art materials are damn expensive! Things are now double and triple the formal price.

What did you love most about the entire experience?

The experience has been great. I met and talked about my work to a lot more people. People were quite taken by the installation “Roots and Wings” which dwells on the grooming period of a child’s life till when (s)he is given wings to fly and be free.

Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater priviledge than the raising of the next generation.” – C. Everett Koop

What do you want people to take from your work as a mixed media artist?

With this body of work, I dwell on the earliest period of life, an important phase which everyone passes through and hope to ignite a discourse centered around raising the next generation of leaders, creatives, scientists etc

I want people to encounter the body of work and connect to it on a personal level. Whatever they take home is theirs to keep.

Please, Tell us what to expect 2017

2017 kicked off in a grand way already. Expect greatness!

Thank you for your time!

Kip Omalade explores Hyperrealism with his chrome mask paintings.

Brooklyn-based artist Kip Omolade explores luxury and immortality in his Diovadiova Chrome series, the historical Benin and Ife ivory inspired pieces to represent a trench between the physical and spiritual worlds.