Artpedia Gallery is delighted to present Distinct Vernaculars, a group exhibition of works by Amarachi Odimba, Fredrick Idele, Olalekan Adeyemi, Dennis Onofua and Sadiq Ajibola Williams. Featuring narratives that are peculiar to the artists, the exhibition offers distinct visual languages that are devoid of over-flogged chronicles in the contemporary Nigerian art scene and present works that signifies an investigative and observatory journey into subject, medium and narrative.

 

Fredrick Idele presents works from his new series that addresses self-reflection, self-love and self-awareness. By exploring indigenous names, spontaneous figures, child-like lines and shapes, Fredrick invites the audience into a close interaction with his stylised portraits that puts vulnerability, strength and necessity of knowing and embracing oneself at the center stage.

 

Exploring and emphasizing process over form, Sadiq Ajibola Williams’ abstract pieces capture the artist’s aim of connecting body, mind and soul in his series, Etchings of a Blade Painter. His practice of dancing and shadow boxing while painting adds rhythm to his process, one that links body and memory and unearthing oneself. By making scarifications and etchings on canvas, Sadiq is constantly looking at blurring generational lines within the confines of culture, tradition and history as he seeks to rediscover his deep roots.

 

Amarachi Odimba’s delicate use of loose brushstrokes lend complexity to her delineation of colourful, dripping figures that are informed by personal experiences, human relationships and love for the human body. Here, Amarachi looks at differences between related individuals, empathy and enticement.

 

The deliberate and intentional distortion of form and expression is central to Dennis Onofua’s aim of capturing and delineating the soul of his subjects. Playfully exploring the techniques of abstraction and figuration, the work here draws from Dennis’ belief and view of different ways of seeing, receiving and processing information.

 

By exploring intricate and delicate lines and cracks, Olalekan Adeyemi examines the concept of rebirth, growth, time, transformation and human experience. In his new series Family Values, Olalekan places the family as the foundation of a functional society and the only currency that cannot be devalued.

 

Distinct Vernaculars is curated by Lagos-based curator, Mathew Oyedele

 

Exhibition Details:

 

Distinct Vernaculars

26th November to 23rd December, 2022

 

Artpedia Gallery

1 Oluwakayode Jacobs Crescent, Off Freedom Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos State

Opening Hours:

Monday-Friday, 10 AM – 6 PM

Saturday, 12 PM – 7 PM

 

 

About The Gallery

Artpedia Gallery is a contemporary art gallery and creative experience in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria which offers an intimate space for lovers of contemporary art. The gallery boasts of a diverse range of authentic and affordable works of art crafted by legendary and leading contemporary artists.

 

Her primary objectives are to spotlight the best creatives in Nigeria and Africa; influence art appreciation; democratise art education; deepen and grow art followership and, ultimately, make the engagements and conversations around art a cultural norm. These are done by facilitating art exhibitions, events and workshops that bring artists and art enthusiasts together in the same spaces through physical and virtual connections.

 

 

Related News

 

About the Artists:

 

Sadiq Ajibola Williams

Born on February 7th, 1981, Sadiq Ajibola Williams is a graduate of Kingston University Surrey-Upon-Thames, United Kingdom where he received a Bachelor’s in Architecture and Design. He now has an atelier based in Lagos, Nigeria and has plans to extend functions to his other place of birth (London) in the nearest future.

 

He is currently residing in Lagos, Nigeria where he has propagated his multidisciplinary practice further. This transition sees him draw creative leanings, expressive energies and references from architecture, art directing, filmmaking, illustrations, martial arts, music, painting, poetry and performance art.

 

He had his first solo exhibition at the Revolving Art Incubator in 2017 and has appeared in group exhibitions with notable galleries including Artyrama Online and Rele Gallery.

 

Dennis Onofua

Dennis Onofua is a figurative and abstract expressionist who began his artistic journey in The Polytechnic of Ibadan in 2014. He later proceeded to Auchi Polytechnic where he obtained his Higher National Diploma in 2018. Since then, he has practiced professionally with a focus on line and colour as the connecting components in his works.

 

His figures are representatives of the human condition; simultaneously delicate, disconnected and disfigured, but also diverse and full of depth. Through this systematic approach to mark-making, Dennis manages to find this balance of authenticity in his portraits, thus effectively communicating how we exist as humans with a nuanced thoughtfulness.

 

Dennis is presently a full-time studio artist who lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria.

 

Olalekan Adeyemi

Olalekan Adeyemi (b.1988) is a painter of visually engaging and photo-surrealistic paintings. He infuses a strong socio-cultural interpretation into his strict patience in searching for an aesthetic representation and an avenue to extract the best of his creativity. He seeks to illustrate more than what meets the eye which inspires his choice of a dynamic rendition style to captivate viewers to look more than once, with a new find at each encounter.

 

He is a graduate of Fine and Applied Arts from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Nigeria and abroad with an annual feature in the October Rain exhibition of the Lagos state chapter of SNA.

 

Olalekan is the winner of the annual juried exhibition, Next of Kin, series 4, 2022.

 

Fredrick Idele

Fredrick Idele is a mixed media artist and art instructor who sees his immediate environment as a large canvas that offers limitless space to explore and experiment. He expresses himself in conceptual figurative rendition through diverse materials like pastel, charcoal, pencils, markers, and acrylic. Fredrick is a graduate of the University of Benin who lives and works in Benin, Nigeria.

 

Amarachi Odimba

Amarachi Odimba lives and works in Abuja, Nigeria as a full-time studio artist. She is a self-taught multimedia artist with a B. Sc in Geology and Mining from Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu State. She developed interest in art at a very young age and has participated in workshops, artist residencies and exhibitions both locally and internationally, including her second solo exhibition themed BE/LONGING at Urevbu Contemporary, Memphis, Tennessee in October 2022.

 

She is an awardee of the Africa Technology and Creative Group Fund (ATCG) in 2020, and an Art Moves Africa (AMA) grantee for an art residency titled EDUFUNCTION at Nafasi Art Space, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (2015).